Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) from various districts of North Karnataka staged online protest on Monday seeking fulfilment of their various demands, including payment of pending remuneration for the last two months.
Staging the protest from their respective towns and villages, ASHAs took part in the online protest holding various placards highlighting their problems.
Addressing the online protestors, office-bearers of the respective district committee of ASHAs Association (Karnataka Rajya Samyukta Asha Karyakarteyara Sangha) said that at a time when ASHAs are working amid odds risking their lives, they are not being compensated properly. Even safety gears are not given to them in adequate quantities.
They said that they are distributing medicine kits, sending patients with symptoms to testing centres, visiting houses with COVID-19 patients and updating the Health Department on their health status. They are also involved in various other related works. However, their demands have not been met for long, they said.
The protestors demanded that their remuneration be released immediately and they be provided adequate numbers of masks, hand gloves and sanitisers. They also demanded that a compensation of ₹25,000 be paid to family members of ASHAs who are infected during their work.
They demanded that a risk allowance of ₹5,000 be paid to them as in the case of health workers. They also sought immediate release of ₹50 lakh compensation to family members of ASHAs who died of the infection.
