The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and anganwadi workers took out a protest here on Wednesday, with a set of demands that included regularisation of services and shifting of pre-school classes to anganwadis from government schools, among others.

Anganwadi workers from across the district protested in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office against starting pre-school classes in government primary schools. This defeated the purpose of anganwadis, they said.

District unit association president Doddavva Pujari demanded that the government close the kindergarten classes in primary schools and shift them to anganwadis. He also complained that workers had not received grants for purchase of vegetables and eggs for many months. They were getting low wages and it needs to be raised to ₹18,000 per month, he said.

The workers sought better working conditions and time-bound promotions. They also demanded that the workers be appointed for effective implementation of the Mathru Purna programme.

The ASHA workers took out a rally seeking fulfilment of their long-pending demands of raising wages, payment of arrears, and changes in software tools given them. They submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy through the Deputy Commissioner. They said their work had led to decline in maternal mortality and infant mortality rate. They were working for over a decade, but their working conditions had not improved. The new software for release of wages was not working properly leading to delay in release of salaries. They were not getting paid for the extra services, they said.