Senior CPI-M leader MY Tarigami on Sunday said the Anganwadi workers and helpers, who were on the forefront of the fight against COVID pandemic, were without wages for the last more than a year.
Tarigami said thousands of Anganwadi workers and helpers were being treated with utter contempt by the government. He said the government had in 2018 announced to enhance the honorarium of these workers and helpers. However, he said, more than two years later, the announcement has not been fulfilled yet.
“All the government schemes are being implemented through Anganwadi workers and helpers. But despite that even the meager wages due to them are denied since 2019. Helpers to supervisors, who are more than 700 in number, are without wages for the last three years,” Tarigami said.
He said the central share for their wages for 2019 has been released but the state share was yet to be released compounding their problems. “The administrative apathy towards their genuine issues is against justice and fair play. They are being denied social security benefits including promotion, gratuity, pension, provident fund and medical facilities,” he said.
Similarly, he said, the accredited social health activists under the NHM, midday meal workers, who have served poor women and children all their lives with a nominal honorarium, have been left to fend for themselves by the government. Tarigami said the allocation for Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which has been in existence for the last more than 40 years, as a centrally sponsored scheme, continues to suffer due to the funds shortage.