35,000 ASHA workers arrested

• A worker fractures her hand when the police drags her on road
• They organise Chalo Hyderabad to protest against meagre remuneration

Hyderabad: The police have frustrated the “Chalo Hyderabad” march by ASHA workers by arresting a huge number of them.

In Hyderabad alone, the police arrested not less than 35,000 workers while they were prepared to take out a rally from RTC Crossroads on Friday.

The ASHA workers, who expressed their displeasure over “inhuman treatment” meted out to them by the police, announced that they would support the bandh call given by all opposition parties on Saturday.

At RTC crossroads, the atmosphere was surcharged with tension as scuffles broke out between the policemen and the protesters.

Many ASHA workers were pulled and dragged by the policemen and were bundled into the vans. One of the workers fractured her hand in the melee.

Around 300 workers participated on strike near RTC X roads and 500 near Sundaraya Vignan Kendram out of which many had come from various districts like Nalgonda, Khammam, Karimnagar, etc.

CITU General Secretary, R Tulasi from Khammam district demanded that the government provide basic incentives of 15,000, regularisation of their services, provision of health cards etc.

Narrating the reasons which forced them to take to roads, an Asha worker Prabha from Karimnagar district told The Hans India that the TRS had promised to address their problems soon after coming to power but till now they are not bothering about resolving their issues.

She said an ASHA worker was getting about Rs 400 a month and how does the government expect them to survive. They are the workers who attend on pregnant women and help them in delivery 24x7.

The Central government established the ASHA workers scheme in the country for providing medical service in the rural areas on contract basis. The cases such as pregnancy, TB, BP/Sugar and even HIV cases are taken care by them, she said.

They would get Rs 30 for taking the pregnant women to hospital, and for check-up Rs 60 and Rs 300 for delivery cases and that too if the delivery took place in government hospitals.

Another ASHA worker from Nalgonda district said that they were earning Rs 300 a month without even providing allowances to them. She further added that they were given six months training.

The government which is spending so much on Bathuakamma is not taking sympathetic view of the plight of Asha workers, she said.

The police arrested women in all the districts since Thursday. Many of them were taken to police stations immediately after they got down from trains.

They were kept in police stations against the rules. Even women police were not present in the police stations. When protested, late in the night they were shifted to some function halls and were provided with stale food.

Even on Friday morning they were given breakfast which was bad. No medical facility was provided though some of them suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea, they complained.