UP: Nearly 1,75 Lakh ASHA Workers Not Paid Honorarium for Past 3 Months Despite Govt's Assurance

Lucknow: Accredited Social Health Activists, or ASHA workers, who are a crucial link in providing public access to rural healthcare across the state, have not received their monthly stipend for the last four months, which, they say, has pushed them to the brink of starvation.

The rural health workers are currently paid a monthly stipend of Rs 2,000, besides extra incentives for deliveries which they say is less than what an MGNREGA worker receives.

"We get Rs 2,000 per month and that too five or six months late. We do all the data collection for the government, but they are neither interested in recognising us as government employees nor in giving us minimum wages," Chanda Yadav, an ASHA worker in Gorakhpur told NewsClick.

She said that the last time they had gathered in the state capital to press for their demands, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had promised to fulfil all their demands including increasing their salary to Rs 6,700, incentives for ASHAs, and Rs 11,000 and incentives for Sanginis, but it has turned out to be a “jumla”.

Hundreds of ASHA and Sanginis, dressed in their trademark red, had gathered at Vidhan Sabha under the banner of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) in Lucknow to demand their right to basic necessities. Their demands include Rs 50 lakh insurance coverage to all frontline workers who died on duty; coverage of medical expenses for treatment of COVID-19 for the entire family, additional COVID-19 risk allowance of Rs 10,000 per month and payment of pending dues. They also demanded a hike in their income and wanted to be recognised as state government employees.

The ASHA workers in the state had gone on a strike in 2022, but they called it off following assurances from the government. But this time, they are not ready to budge until their demands are met.

Nirupma, an ASHA worker who is a single parent, speaking to NewsClick said, "Salaries drawn by ASHAs and Sanginis are already very meagre and the practice of irregular release of the monthly dues has further aggrieved the entire lot. We have been protesting ever so often, but they never seem to listen."

With the incentives, ASHA workers are paid only around Rs 6,000, which is not sufficient to run a household. Though ASHA works primarily work under healthcare programmes, they do not have health insurance themselves. Therefore, the health workers are also demanding health insurance coverage of up to Rs 10 lakh.

Nirupama said ASHAs and Sanginis have been working round the clock since they had been assigned COVID-19 duties but when it comes to paying them, the government “abandons” them. "We have been running from pillar to post following the inordinate delay in the release of pending salaries which has pushed thousands of families into penury,” she said.

Ahead of the urban body polls which are scheduled to be held next month, Section 144 (prohibiting unlawful assembly) of CrPC is in force across the state – with no permission for any gathering. However, the ASHA workers’ union asserted that they will organise a statewide protest soon after the election is over.

The workers demand that their various safety and security concerns be addressed by the BJP government, in addition to a salary hike. In Uttar Pradesh, there are approximately 1,75,000 ASHAs who currently receive a salary of Rs 2,000, with additional incentives based on their monthly performance.

Rupali Srivastava, a member of the Uttar Pradesh Asha Workers’ Union, said that ahead of the Assembly election, the government had distributed 'smartphones', asking them to fill in the data of work and to make an Ayushman card. "With the phone given to us with the 2g network, we find it very difficult to work, especially in rural/outskirt areas. The phone never functions properly and hangs most of the time. On top of this, there is pressure to do the work quickly.  Besides, we have been forced to train on a computer for an hour."

ASHA Union has demanded that the government fix a monthly honorarium of Rs 15,000 for ASHA workers.