Around 300- 400 protesters gathered at Freedom Park from various parts of Karnataka- namely
Chitradurga, Haveri, and Raichur demanding a raise in their pay and a permanent job.
A massive protest was held at Freedom Park by ASHAs and Anganwadi workers. They demanded to
have a permanent job and a raise in their salary. Around 200 police officers were deployed at the
protest site for security purposes.
Bhagya Amma, an Anganwadi worker says, “We are here since yesterday afternoon at 1 o clock. We
are requesting the government to provide us with a proper and equal salary. They have left out
Anganwadi workers and have increased the salaries of LKG, UKG, and primary school teachers. We are
not getting any facilities from the central govt. Matrupurana and Matruvandana Yojana are
supposed to provide our salaries by seeing our work under these schemes.”
Another Anganwadi worker, Rahima who has come from Chitradurga says, “In Chitradurga, we get
paid less and no pension is given, we don't even have the Aarogya cards and it is really difficult for
us. That is why we have come to Bangalore. We don't have enough money to take care of our kids
and there is nobody to take care of us old people. We need money to take care of ourselves.”
Their current salary is Rs. 9000 per month which they want to increase to Rs.12,000 per month. On
this issue, the state ASHA co-ordinator, Mr. Girish says that “According to the documents, what we
know is that Asha workers are social volunteers. They have submitted their demands from different
organizations. Our government has positively responded to the demands and has promised to
resolve the majority of the demands.”
