Port Blair, Sept. 22: The Member of Parliament, A&N Islands, Shri Kuldeep Rai Sharma has urged the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi to consider for regularisation of the services of ASHA and Anganwadi workers through an enactment of a comprehensive regulation to bring them at par with other regular employees of the Government with all benefits such as wages, insurance, leave, pension etc.
He informed the Prime Minister that all together 9 lakh ASHA workers and 35 lakh Anganwadi workers are working throughout the India in different States/UTs including Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Out of which 500 ASHA workers and 800 Anganwadi workers are working in Andaman & Nicobar Islands who are acting as bridge between the government and people due to human resources shortage in the health system and are working for the nation in these challenging times. They have played a very important role in not only containing the spread of the Coronavirus in A&N Islands but also across the country with most significant example being that of Kerala. Amid COVID-19 pandemic, these workers are risking their lives by moving often without the optimum protection who are facing tremendous risk to visit their respective areas to see the people with suspicious. These workers are dealing with increased workload where instead of 2-3 hours per day, are now rendering service more than 10 hours per day in the field.
Apart from spreading awareness about the coronavirus and conducting related surveys, they are visiting houses, looking for cases of COVID-19 and keeping track of immunization, family planning, nutrition etc.
He further emphasis that the World Health Organization(WHO) had called upon all government servants, employees, workers organisation and the global community to take urgent measures to protect the occupational health and safety of frontline health workers and emergency responders and respect their right to decent working condition.
Keeping in view of the un-secure service being rendered by them in the amid COVID-19 pandemic and to support their long pending demands to give equal status treating them as employ of government, Mr. Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Member of Parliament, A&N Islands has raised this matter before the Prime Minister of India by demanding to bring out a comprehensive law to regularise the services of ASHA and Anganwadi workers and Health Assistances and bring them at par with government employees by extending all benefits such as Pay, Insurance, Leave, Pension etc as being provided to the regular employees of the Government.