Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury urges West Bengal CM to increase ASHA workers' salaries

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday urged est Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to increase the salary of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in West Bengal, and release their bonus before the upcoming festive season.

In a letter to Benerjee, President of West Bengal Congress Committee Chowdhury pointed out that "the biggest festival season of Durga Puja is round the corner" and ASHA workers have not yet received their bonus.

"This is to bring to your attention the plight of ASHA workers in West Bengal. They are spread all over the state and are supposed to perform duties regarding all kinds of vaccination including polio. They do door to door campaigns and spread awareness regarding all kinds of medical conditions with a special focus on child and mother healthcare," noted the Congress leader.

He pointed out that with the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, ASHA workers are also handling COVID related duties.

"In spite of so much of hard work, they are paid a meagre sum of Rs 4,500 per month. They live in hardship because it is very difficult to run the household in a paltry sum of Rs 4,500 per month," he said.

"In view of the above, I shall request you to kindly increase the salary of these hard-working Asha workers to a substantial level so that they would live with respect and dignity. Further, I may also request you to kindly release their bonus at the earliest i.e, before the festive season," added Chowdhury.

(ANI)