Thiruvananthapuram: Hundreds of ASHA workers, who have been staging a protest for over a month pressing various demands, on Monday intensified their agitation by laying a siege to the state’s Secretariat here.A section of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers has been protesting here for the last 36 days seeking post-retirement benefits and a hike in their honorarium.As they are yet to get any assurance from the authorities on their demands, the agitators today laid a siege to the Secretariat by blocking its various gates, in the heart of the city.After gathering at the protest venue, they moved towards the state’s administrative hub, squatted on the road and raised slogans.Police placed barricades on the premises to block the protesters.Security was intensified in and around the Secretariat and over 800 police personnel were deployed to prevent the protesters from entering Secretariat.Police said the agitation didn’t create any hurdle to the normal functioning of the Secretariat.One of the protesting ASHA workers, who came from neighbouring Kollam district, said they won’t end the ongoing agitation untill the state government accepts their demands.”How can we take our lives forward with this meagre income. I am a widow and has two children and an elderly mother to look after. I cannot live anymore with this poor honorarium at a time when prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing,” she told the media.Meanwhile, the ruling LDF on Monday continued to criticise the ASHA workers over their agitation and said those who are leading the protest have some hidden agenda.”They should have staged a protest against the union government…not against the state government,” senior CPI(M) leader and LDF convenor TP Ramakrishnan said here.He also claimed that the LDF and the CPI(M) have always stood to protect the interests of the ASHA workers and that would continue.The LDF government has claimed that it has not received any cash grant from the central government under the National Health Mission (NHM) for 2023-24 for payment towards various centre-sponsored schemes, including for ASHA.The central government has, however, rejected the state’s claims and contended that it has given what was due, but the utilisation certificate has not come from Kerala.It said that once the certificate comes, the requisite amounts would be given to the ASHA workers and the state.Union Health Minister J P Nadda had also announced in the Parliament that the Mission Steering Group of the NHM has decided to raise the incentives of ASHA workers.
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