Thousands of anganwadi workers, who have been on strike for the past over two months, will spend a night at Karnal, the hometown of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, next Monday after holding a protest in the day. They are demanding an increase in their honorarium. Haryana Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union general secretary Shakuntla said, “Nearly 30,000 anganwadi workers are likely to attend the protest scheduled to be held at Karnal on Monday. They will spend the night there. The protest may continue indefinitely. The call for a possible gherao of CM residence will be taken on the spot. The leaders of anganwadi workers from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand too will attend the protest.” The union leader said, “Services of 100 protesting anganwadi workers have already been terminated. All other attempts are being made to pressure the protesters to break their strike. But our struggle will continue as we are fighting for genuine demands.” The anganwadi workers undertook a tractor march in Rohtak Friday as part of their agitation. The protesters said this honorarium is meagre, lower than the salary of contractual unskilled workers (Rs 14,330-17,520) as announced by the state government recently. The strike has been launched to demand implementation of an announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2018 to increase the monthly honorarium by Rs 1,500 for anganwadi workers and by Rs 700 for anganwadi helpers. The state government says anganwadi workers are already getting the highest honorarium in north India, adding that they are not government employees but workers engaged under the ICDS scheme, and hence entitled only to an honorarium.
