ASHA Workers Struggle in Rudrapur
UTTARAKHAND ASHA Health Workers Union, affiliated to AICCTU, organized a dharna at Gandhi Park in Rudrapur on 26 August 2019 under the state-wide program ‘Organize and Protest’. A rally was organized after the dharna from Gandhi Park to the Collectorate, and a memorandum with their demands submitted to the Chief Minister through the Collector.
Addressing the meeting at Gandhi Park, AICCTU State President Nishan Singh said that the anti-worker attitude of the Modi government at the Centre has become very clear. The rapid privatization of railways, defence, insurance, and banks are fast becoming privatized makes it extremely clear that this government is an entirely anti-worker government of the capitalists. Under the policies of this government, the BJP government in Uttarakhand is also moving fast towards privatization of the health sector. The Ayushman Scheme which was much-hyped by the government has failed. Only a token number of people are getting treatment under this Scheme. Instead of improving government hospitals, hospital buildings and medical equipment and arranging for adequate number of regular personnel, the government has handed over all the funds under the Ayushman Scheme to corporate insurance companies.
Uttarakhand ASHA Health Workers Union State Vice President Rita Kashyap said that ASHA workers have become the backbone of the Health Department and their work is like emergency services; they have to rush to work at any time of day or night, whenever pregnant women experience labor pains. Despite this, ASHA workers are neither given the status of workers, nor do they get a minimum monthly wage. What is this if not grave injustice and exploitation of women’s labor? ASHAs had been appointed only to reduce the mother-child mortality rate, and government reports are witness to the fact that they have succeeded in this objective. As a reward for this, the government has only burdened them with more work, but refuses to give them a monthly salary; in contrast, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to give ASHAs in that State a monthly honorarium of Rs 10,000. But in spite of our putting this proposition in front of the Uttarakhand government many times, the government has not heeded our demand; not only that, they have also ended the Rs 5,000 annual incentive amount that we used to get earlier. Before the elections, Modi and BJP had made many tall promises to the ASHAs but now the BJP government is not ready even to listen to what we have to say.
Union District President Mamta Panu said that the government does not pay any honorarium to ASHA workers, but they give all sorts of orders to the ASHAs through their officers. The District Medical Officer has directed that ASHAs will be punished if they do not conduct deliveries of pregnant women at government hospitals; on the other hand, the relatives of pregnant women quarrel with ASHA workers because the facilities at government hospitals are so dismally poor. Thus the ASHA workers are pounced upon by the government officials as well as the public.
CPIML District Secretary Anand Negi also addressed the meeting and expressed support and solidarity with the ASHA workers.
After the meeting, a rally was organized from the Gandhi Park to the Collectorate, where the ASHA workers submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister with the following demands:
Rs 10,000 monthly honorarium as in Andhra Pradesh; reinstatement of incentive amount; Rs 500,000 after retirement; putting into accounts the money as per the earlier State government directive of Rs 2000 monthly honorarium; payment of various arrears; arrangement of facilities for common public at government hospitals; courteous behavior of officials towards ASHA workers; construction of ASHA Ghar (room for ASHAs) and hygiene and cleanliness arrangements at all government hospitals; training for ASHAs through Health Department and payment of Rs 350 per day during training as was the case earlier; end the autocratic orders given by officials at Gadarpur Health Center.
A large number of ASHA workers and other leaders participated in the dharna protest and rally, including Uttarakhand Workers Union District Secretary Kulvinder Kaur, Block President Madhubala, Chitra Chauhan, Meera Pal, All India Kisan Mahasabha leader Rajendra Shah, Manju Chauhan, Kala Rana, Manoj Devi, Prem Lata, Rupinder Kaur, Maya Devi, Geeta Saini, Rekha, Rupa, Manju, Sudha Shrma, Snah Lata, Nutan Chauhan, Kamlesh Saini, Vandita, Rita Devi, Poonam Chaudhury, Santosh Shrma, Soni Sharma, Poonam, Reena, Prema, Parveen Jahan, Sanju Bala, Ravinder Kaur, Archana, Neelam, Amarjeet Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Soni, Renu, Reshma, Madhubala, Mamta, and CPIML leaders Lalit Matiyali and Vijay Sharma.
