Assam: Anganwadi workers stage protest demanding resolution of various issues

LAKHIMPUR: Hundreds of Anganwadi workers and assistants staged a massive protest in Lakhimpur district on Monday in support of their various demands.

Led by president Angelika Gogoi and secretary Amiya Saikia Baruah, the protest programme was initiated in front of the Office of the District Social Welfare Officer under the banner of the Lakhimpur district unit of the Assam State Anganwadi Workers-Assistants’ Union. Assam State Anganwadi Workers-Assistants’ Union has resorted to stirring since October 3 across the state, demanding resolution to their number of issues. They expressed vehement resentment over the Social Welfare Director’s absence in the meeting, which was organized by him with the delegation of the Anganwadi workers and assistants, following his promise made by saying that the Anganwadi workers would be paid Rs 10,000 as their remuneration.

By staging the protest programme, the organization submitted a memorandum to the Social Welfare Minister through the District Social Welfare Officer of Lakhimpur. In the memorandum, the organization said, “The Government of India launched the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) on October 2, 1975. The scheme has already completed 48 years. It is known to all that the scheme targets the long-term nutrition and holistic development of children by providing a range of services through the Anganwadi centres. The package of services provided by the ICDS includes supplementary nutrition, pre-school education, immunisation, health check-ups, nutrition and health education, and referral services for children aged 0–6 years, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and nursing mothers. While going to ensure these services to the beneficiaries concerned, the Anganwadi workers and assistants have to work by overcoming lots of problems. Yet they have not received their due salary instead of a lump sum of remuneration, though they work for more than four hours a day. Under such circumstances, the Anganwadi workers and assistants have suffered a lot with regard to the procurement of their fundamental needs”.

Through the same memorandum, the organization demanded the government to hike the Anganwadi workers’ remuneration up to 12,000 and assistants’ remuneration up to 10,000, to release ex-gratia to the retired Anganwadi workers and assistants within October 20, to grant gratuity to the Anganwadi workers, to withdraw the age bar with regard to promotion of the Anganwadi workers, to promote the working Anganwadi workers to Mukhya Sevika (Supervisor), to develop the infrastructure of all the Anganwadi centres, and to release the Anganwadi workers and assistants from additional work. The memorandum further said that the Anganwadi workers and assistants would refrain from BLO duties and Health Department duties throughout the month of October.

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