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Srinagar: Several ASHA workers staged a protest in Langate area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday against authorities for not releasing their incentives for the last four months. The protesting ASHA workers said that although they were being given very meagre incentives, still then they have been deprived of the same, thus making them suffer.
“We have not only been deprived of the monthly incentives but from last one year we haven’t even provided JSY incentives,” ASHA workers president for Langate medical zone Haseena Begum told TheNews21.
The protestors denounced authorities for recruitment of new ASHA workers. They said that the authorities were doing injustice to them by recruiting new ASHA workers in those areas where there were already old ASHA workers working for the last several years.
They said that as per guidelines one ASHA worker is recruited for one thousand population and presently there are 154 ASHA workers working in Langate medical zone.
They said that beyond every one thousand population, authorities can recruit new ASHA workers to meet the demand of people but according to them authorities were planning to recruit new ASHAs’ in areas having less than a thousand population. They said that authorities should refrain from doing so and in case the process was not stopped, they would once again take to the streets to protest for their demands.
Meanwhile Block Medical Officer Langate (BMO) Dr Gowhar said that the pending incentives would be released in a week. Regarding recruitment of new ASHAs’, he said that no such step which goes against the set norms would be taken.
