Mangaluru: August 27, 2015: Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) have threatened to strike work from next month to press the government to release incentives due to them.
Addressing the Dakshina Kannada district-level conference of Karnataka State Composite ASHA Workers’ Association, affiliated to the All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), here on Thursday D. Nagalakshmi, State Secretary of the association, said that the date from which they would stop working from next month would be decided in Bengaluru soon.
She said that there were 30,000 ASHA in the State. The government owed Rs. 35 crore as incentive dues to them for 2014-15 and about Rs. 30 crore during the current financial year.
The association was fed up of presenting memoranda to Health department officials and Ministers. It would no longer sit in dharna to press for the demands.
She said that the workers were getting only incentives and no monthly salary. The government should provide them a minimum salary of Rs. 15,000 per month as the workers have been forced to do many works in addition to 32 works fixed to them.
She said that ASHA were the backbone of the Health department but the government was “least bothered” to pay incentives due to them.