Asha workers’ sharp attack on the government in Bettiah, serious questions raised from payment of dues to reinstatement scam

Independent morning Correspondent Atul Kumar
Publisher – Jitendra Kumar Rajesh

Daughter. An important meeting of Bihar State Asha Sangh AITUC was held on Saturday under the chairmanship of Sadhna Devi at Baliram Bhawan auditorium in Bettiah. In the meeting, hundreds of Asha workers, who arrived from various blocks including West Champaran district, lodged a strong protest regarding their pending demands, problems and alleged irregularities. During the entire program, Asha workers raised serious questions on the functioning of the government and the health department and demanded immediate improvements.

In the meeting, the main demands raised were the continuous delay in payment of outstanding honorarium to ASHA workers, ending the irregularities prevalent in the payment process, and re-implementing the payment system through the Ashwin portal as before. Asha workers said that due to non-payment on time, the financial condition of their families is continuously deteriorating, yet no concrete steps are being taken at the departmental level.

Along with this, a strong demand was also made to increase the retirement age limit from 60 years to 65 years. Asha workers said that they have been working as the backbone of the rural health system for years, hence considering their experience and services, they should get respectable service period.
The issue of serious irregularities in the hope restoration process was also raised strongly in the meeting. Activists alleged that despite people already working at Anganwadi centers in many areas of the district, complaints of illegal recovery of up to lakhs of rupees are coming to the fore in the name of hope restoration. In this regard, written complaints have been given to the District Magistrate several times, but due to no effective action being taken till now, the anger has increased further.

Asha workers also warned that if such irregularities are not stopped then the agitation will be intensified.
It was also decided in the meeting that Asha workers will gherao the Bihar Assembly in Patna on May 26 with their demands. For this, thousands of Asha workers from West Champaran will leave for Patna on 25th May itself and will join the movement on a large scale.

Addressing the meeting, State Executive President of Bihar State Asha Sangh AITUC, Om Prakash Kranti made a scathing attack on the state and central government. He said that today the rights of workers and the poor are being violated in the country and policies are being made in the interest of capitalists. He alleged that protesting labor leaders were being implicated in false cases, put under house arrest and sent to jail.

He said that such policies are against democracy and workers will now have to organize and wage a decisive struggle to protect their rights. While supporting the demands of Asha workers, he also raised the issues of contractual and outsourcing workers prominently and called upon all the employees to unite and strengthen the movement.
During the meeting, an atmosphere of excitement and anger was seen in the entire auditorium. The Asha workers present in large numbers raised their voice in support of their demands in one voice.

Hundreds of Asha workers including Ranjana Chauhan, Munna Devi, Lachhmina Devi, Sunita Devi, Noorjahan Khatoon, Sumaiya Khatoon, Saira Begum, Rita Devi, Poonam, Saroj, Nirmala, Neelam, Sanju, Sundaram Devi were present in the meeting and pledged to make the movement successful.