Thiruvananthapuram, May 18: The ASHA workers who held an agitation for an increase in their honorarium and retirement benefits on Monday welcomed the Kerala government’s decision to hike their wages by Rs 3,000 and thanked Chief Minister V D Satheesan for keeping his word.
The hike was announced by Satheesan following the new government’s first Cabinet meeting.
M A Bindu, general secretary of the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA), which led the agitation, welcomed the decision and said they were thankful to Satheesan for keeping his word.
“We are very happy with the decision. We welcome it. When he was opposition leader, he came to our protest site and announced that when the UDF comes to power, one of the first Cabinet decisions would be to hike the honorarium of ASHA workers.
“A government should be able to hear and see the people, and understand what they are saying. He has kept his word and we are thankful to him for it,” she told a TV channel.
At the same time, she said that the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers expected the hike to be a bit more than the Rs 3,000 decided by the Cabinet.
However, they believe that their demand for an honorarium of Rs 21,000 would be granted by the UDF government in the future, she said.
The KAHWA had staged a 265-day protest last year demanding an increase in their honorarium to Rs 21,000 and post retirement benefits of Rs 5 lakh.
The Left government had hiked their honorarium by Rs 1,000, twice.
With the Rs 3,000 hike announced by the UDF government, their honorarium has increased to Rs 12,000, Satheesan said following the Cabinet meeting.
