SHILLONG, June 20: A day after the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers announced a strike in protest against non-payment of their incentives in Ri Bhoi, Nongpoh MLA Mayralborn Syiem has urged the state government to raise the honorarium given to the workers from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.
The Congress MLA from Nongpoh said, “ASHAs have been neglected for long. We had been discussing the matter with the government and I had personally raised it in the House more than once. The state and central shares due to ASHAs has not been cleared since 2012 and their efforts as frontline worker in this fight against COVID is not been given due recognition.”
Recalling that earlier they had demanded an honorarium of Rs 1,000 for ASHAs which has been partially doled out, Syiem said, “The honorarium for ASHA workers in Meghalaya should be at par with ASHAs across the country. They deserve to get an honorarium of not less than Rs 5,000 per month during the time of COVID-19.”
“The honorarium has to be paid in addition to all the normal incentives they are entitled to get,” he added.
ASHAs had announced an indefinite strike at a press conference in Nongpoh on Saturday. They revealed that the government has not cleared their dues and has not considered their demand for payment in line with other healthcare workers. They maintained that they had apprised Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma and Health Minister, AL Hek of their demands but to no avail.
