The ASHA workers' protest in Kerala intensified on Wednesday as the protestors marched to state's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's official residence.
Their demands include a hike in the honorarium and inclusion of post-retirement benefits.
A section of ASHA workers in Kerala, who have been protesting for the past 256 days demanding higher honorariums and post-retirement benefits, intensified their protest on Wednesday by marching to Cliff House, the official residence of the state's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Until now, the protesting Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers had been staging a sit-in on the footpath outside the state secretariat.
Led by the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA), the demonstrators faced multiple rounds of water cannon, with many climbing over police barricades in an attempt to reach Cliff House.
The protesters shouted slogans against the Chief Minister and the Left government for not meeting their demands of raising their state-paid honorarium from Rs 7,000 to Rs 21,000 and providing a post-retirement benefit of Rs 5 lakh.
In August, a state government-appointed panel recommended an honorarium hike of Rs 3,000 and post-retirement benefits of Rs 1 lakh for ASHA workers. Earlier in July, the Centre decided to increase their fixed monthly incentive.
According to media reports, the Centre recently approved raising the fixed monthly incentive from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,500 during the 9th meeting of the Mission Steering Group (MSG) and is also planning to enhance retirement benefits.
(with inputs from PTI and Mathrubhumi)
