COVID-19: Telangana asha workers demand hike, job security

HYDERABAD: Asha workers on Friday took up a Statewide digital protest demanding a raise in salaries and permanent posts. Demanding a fixed pay of Rs  10,000 as given by the Andhra Pradesh government, they said that though their workload had increased, their salary had decreased. 

“Our salary amount is justRs  6,000 at present, which is also coming in fragments as we are not able to complete our designated work. We have to follow up on a certain number of institutional deliveries and neonatal care protocols, all this is getting sidelined as the workload for Covid-19 is very high,” said G Kavitha, State Secretary for Asha workers association.  The workers rue that from an 8-hour shift, they are now being forced to work 16 hours as they were spending hours on foot to detect Covid-19 cases.  “We have no insurance and no job security. Three Asha workers died and their families did not get any support from the government,” added G Kavitha.