Karimnagar: ASHA workers demand fixed salary

Karimnagar: Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) district secretary Bandari Shekar demanded the government to pay fixed salary of Rs 10,000 to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and reduce their workload.

Demanding the government to solve their problems, ASHA workers along with CITU representatives staged a dharna in front of the Collectorate here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, CITU district secretary B Shekar said that ASHA workers of Andhra Pradesh State made the government to accept their demands after staging a series of agitations and protests and got all their issues solved. In the same way, ASHA workers working across Telangana State must be united and must come on a single platform to fight against the TRS government for resolving their issues, he appealed.

The government did not sanction salaries for the past five months to ASHA workers. Without salaries, how they can celebrate Bathukamma and Dasara festivals. Are they not a part of Telangana State? Why the government, which is distributing Bathukamma sarees to women, is ignoring Asha workers? he questioned.

The CITU leader demanded that the government must release the pending salaries immediately along with announcing festival bonus to them and fix their salaries at Rs.10,000 and reduce the workload.

ASHA workers union members Tulasi, Sri Latha, Paramitha, Vanaja, Sushma, Laxmi and Shoba were present along with 200 members of ASHA workers and CITU leaders R Srinivas and Ramesh.