The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government on Wednesday invited the protesting Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers for a fresh round of talks on Thursday in a bid to end the latter’s strike which has been going on for over 52 days.
“The government has invited us for another round of talks. The meeting will likely take place between representatives of the agitating ASHAs and health minister Veena George at her office on Thursday afternoon,” VK Sadanandan, state president of the Kerala ASHA health workers association, said. Goerge recently met her Union counterpart JP Nadda in Delhi in a meeting she had termed as “positive”.
The ASHA workers have been demanding a hike in their monthly honorarium from ₹7,000 to ₹21,000 and a one-time retirement benefit of ₹5 lakh.
Two rounds of talks were held between top health officials and the protesting ASHA workers in the past two months. However, the talks failed to yield a result with the ASHA workers demanding nothing less than what they have asked for. On Monday, the 50th day of the strike, some of the ASHA workers cut off their hair as part of their protest.
The CPI(M)-led state government has asked the protesting ASHA workers to place their demands before the Union government as it has not hiked the monthly incentives since the scheme was put in place. Comparatively, the monthly honorarium given by the state government has been regularly hiked over the years, it said.
{{/usCountry}}The CPI(M)-led state government has asked the protesting ASHA workers to place their demands before the Union government as it has not hiked the monthly incentives since the scheme was put in place. Comparatively, the monthly honorarium given by the state government has been regularly hiked over the years, it said.
{{/usCountry}}“We have high expectations from the fresh round of talks. Our demands are clear and we hope that the discussions will be based on those demands. We will end the strike only after our demands are fulfilled by the state government,” Sadanandan said.