Mumbai: The viral online campaign in Gujarat on development ‘gone mad’, #VikasGandoThayoChe, has found an echo with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying the country cannot afford ‘crazy vikas (development)’ when livelihoods are at stake.
Addressing a rally of Anganwadi workers, who have called a state-wide strike demanding a 100% salary hike, Mr. Thackeray said at Azad Maidan on Wednesday: “When Rahul Gandhi asked about development in Gujarat, people told him that it has gone crazy. Can we afford this crazy development? We do want rockets, bullet trains and expressways; but what’s the use of all this if there is no food to eat?”
The State’s 97,000-odd anganwadis are managed by over 2.06 lakh employees, where schemes for providing supplementary nutrition, health services and daycare for school children are implemented. The functioning of anganwadis have been affected by the strike for two weeks now, with the BJP-led State government refusing to accede to their principal demand of double salary for anganwadi sevikas and helpers.
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Three days ago, the government hiked salaries of anganwadi workers to ₹6,500 per month, which would mean an additional expenditure of ₹363 crore annually. Striking workers have rejected the gesture, calling the hike ‘miniscule’. Shubha Shamim, convener, Statewide Action Committee of Anganwadi Sevikas, said, “This is not acceptable. Also, our demand was to increase salaries based on years of service. Currently, all sevikas draw the same salary, whether they have a year’s service or 20 behind them. Senior Sevikas should be paid more, which should be a minimum of ₹7,000 and could go up to ₹13,000.”
Mr. Thackeray targeted the coalition government, of which his party is a member, saying “dreaming big isn’t wrong” in an apparent reference to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s three-day business trip to South Korea, “I’m not here to lead the protest, but to give strength to the existing leadership. But look at these women here, who have lost their sleep and can’t even dream. Though we are in power, we can’t work with an indifferent mind.”