The Hundreds of Anganwari Workers and Helpers from all over the state staged a demonstration outside the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat in support of their demands. Demonstrators marched from the Panchayat Bhawan at the Bus Stand to the Secretariat, raising slogans against the state government.
They demanded that they should be given pay scales at par with Punjab. Demonstrators blamed government for doing injustice to 38,000 female anganwari workers and helpers. They demanded to hike in their remuneration as per Punjab. They said that in Punjab, an anganwari worker gets Rs 5,000 and a helper Rs 2,500, while here in HP we are given Rs 3,300 and Rs 1,700 respectively.
Protestors blamed Govt for denying their rights. They said despite the anganwari workers and helpers rendering services under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), they were not being paid anything extra even though the Centre had released Rs 6 crore to the state government.
They also opposed the proposal to hand over 10 per cent of the anganwaris to NGOs. They submitted a demands charter to the Secretary, Women and Child Development and threaten to go on an indefinite strike, if their demands are not met.
Demonstrators forced to halt traffic at major points in the city and commuters suffered a lot from it.
