The monthly honorarium of anganwadi workers and helpers in Uttar Pradesh has been increased by Rs 4,000 and Rs 2,000, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Tuesday.
The honorarium for the anganwadi workers will now be Rs 12,000, while that of helpers will be Rs 6,000, the government said in a statement.
Also, the anganwadi workers, helpers and their families will now get cashless medical treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh every year, it was announced.
The CM also announced plans to make anganwadi centres smart through smartphones and real-time data.
Addressing a felicitation programme in Ayodhya, Adityanath said when the BJP formed government in 2017, anganwadi workers received an honorarium of just Rs 3,000. “The government linked it with a performance-based system and increased it to Rs 8,000. Now it will be increased to Rs 12,000. The honorarium of helpers was also increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 4,000 earlier and is now being increased to Rs 6,000. Anganwadi workers and helpers played a vital role along with ANMs and ASHA workers during COVID-19 while screening people in villages and serving infected people,” he said.
While nearly 12,000 anganwadi workers and helpers were present at the Ayodhya event, ministers, MPs, MLAs attended such events in all 75 districts of the state.
The Chief Minister said funds for sarees have been released for the state’s 2.91 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers who will now get three sarees instead of two.
Now, Rs 500 extra will be provided for an additional saree. The state government will bear an additional burden of around Rs 20 crore for this, he said.
In the first phase, 1.28 lakh smartphones have also been provided to the workers, he said, adding that data on schemes can be recorded in real time and their functioning will become easier.
“Over the past nine years, more than 70,000 anganwadi centres in the state have been given an organised structure. The government’s goal is to provide its own buildings to every centre. For this, buildings will be constructed through the State Finance Commission’s funds or a separate budget,” he added.
Attacking the previous governments, the Chief Minister stated, “Before 2017, anganwadi centres were dilapidated. Children used to bring mats from their homes to sit on. There was a lack of drinking water and essential equipment. The Central government provided the money, but a mafia had a stranglehold on nutritional food. A liquor mafia used to operate the nutritional food for children in the state. The government and mafia used to run the system, while anganwadi workers and helpers had to bear the brunt.”
Now, nutritional food has been freed from the mafia, and Take Home Ration plants at 204 locations are being operated through women’s self-help groups.”
“Both the SP and the Congress opposed the Ram Temple. The SP even opposed widening of roads in Ayodhya, construction of the railway station and the airport. They are opposed to heritage as well as development. But despite their opposition, neither the Ram Temple campaign stopped nor the development of Ayodhya stopped. Today, Ramlala is seated in the grand temple and people from the country and the world are witnessing the transformation of Ayodhya,” Adityanath said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s newly appointed CEO Jitendra Mishra during a visit to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday. PTI
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