Staff working in various government schemes in the State staged a dharna demanding a solution to their long pending demands.
Thousands of women and other staff carrying placards staged protests urging the government to pay ₹21,000 salary per month, on Friday.
Following the call given by CITU and other unions, staff working in Anganwadi Centres, ASHA workers, women working in Mid-Day Meals and other Schemes organised dharnas and rallies demanding that the government provide Provident Fund, Employees State Insurance (ESI), Pension and other benefits to all the staff working in various State and Central government Schemes.
Though the staff have been working for the last few years, government was paying honorarium and was not revising salaries and not issuing ration cards stating that they were government employees, said a worker A. Bhagyavathi.
“Some lakhs of workers were serving in various government schemes for more than ten years. Government is utiliszng their services without paying minimum wages,” alleged another Anganwadi worker, K. Sulochana.
“We extended our services during the pandemic, and many workers died with Coronavirus. But, our services were not recognized and no compensation was paid to the COVID victims,” said a women Ch. Usha, and demanding that they be recognized as front line warriors and be paid compensation immediately.
Government has been utilizing the services of scheme workers for all public outreach programmes like child care, pulse polio, literacy development, nutritional diet supply for pregnant women and other services. Thousands of workers were working for many years, but their services were not regularized, the agitators alleged.
“We request the government to provide job security, health and retirement benefits and pay salaries as per the Minimum Wages Act,” the protestors urged.
The scheme workers staged dharnas at Mandal Revenue Officers and other government offices across the State.
