Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi | Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Tuesday said that Union Health Minister J P Nadda told her that the central government was considering the issue of increasing the incentives of ASHA workers.
George said that Nadda heard in detail the problems of the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers and the request of the state government to increase their incentives and bring them within the ambit of the labour laws.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi after meeting Nadda, she said that the union minister asked her to tell the protesting ASHA workers that they came under a central-scheme and the Centre was considering the issues raised by them.
A section of ASHA workers have been protesting outside the Secretariat in Kerala for 51 days seeking post retirement benefits and increasing their honorarium and on Monday they escalated their agitation with several of them cutting their hairs or shaving their heads in an emotional gesture of defiance against the state government's alleged "indifference" to their demands.
George said that if the Centre increases the incentives it gives to ASHA workers, the state will automatically hike it.
Besides the issues concerning the ASHA workers, Nadda praised the state's efforts to eliminate TB and assured that Kerala will soon get an AIIMS under a special scheme, George told reporters.
She said that she also raised the issue of releasing to the state the remaining funds under the National Health Mission for the year 2023-24 and the union minister said it will be worked out.
Additionally, Nadda also assured to examine the state's request for medical colleges at Kasaragod and Wayanad, she said.
The union minister adopted a positive approach towards all the issues raised before him, she emphasised.
George was in Delhi to meet Nadda regarding the issues of the protesting ASHA workers.
Reacting to George's press briefing at Delhi, M A Bindu, general secretary of the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Union, said the union minister has not said anything new.
She told reporters outside the Secretariat that the minister has not said anything about the demands raised by the ASHA workers.
Meanwhile, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) state president R Chandrasekharan announced moral support for the protesting ASHA workers and urged the state government to hold discussions with them and resolve their issues.
Earlier in the day, a few Congress workers followed the example of the ASHA workers and shaved their heads in a show of support for them. On the other hand, state Excise Minister M B Rajesh said that those leading the protest do not want to resolve the issue.
"The government alone wishing for an end to the issue is not enough as those leading the protest do not want to see it end. This is not a protest to resolve the problems of ASHA workers. It is politically motivated. Those leading the agitation have a political agenda and are misleading a group of ASHA workers," he told reporters.
He also pointed out that the protestors have no demands against the Centre and were blaming only the state government and asked, "If that is not politically motivated, then what is?"
