Pandemic adds to anganwadi staff 's woes, protest on for pay

Some anganwadi workers haven’t got monthly honorarium of `9,678 for two months

- Priyangi Agarwal

New Delhi: Sunita, an anganwadi worker, is exhausted with the increasing workload which is not helped by recurring delays in the release of her monthly honorarium. “Apart from other routine activities, we maintain the daily record in nearly 16 offline registers and some online one. Though our work timings are from 9am to 2pm, we are made to work at odd hours, at night for example, updating the Poshan Tracker app,” grumbled Sunita. “Despite this hard work, we often do not receive our honorarium on time.” She is yet to receive her monthly honorarium of Rs 9,678 for two months now. A single mother, Sunita said it is difficult to run the household if she doesn’t get her money in time.

Sunita was among the thousands of anganwadi workers and helpers who went on indefinite strike from Monday to press for a hike in the honorarium. The amount was last increased in August 2017 after they struck work for 58 days. On Monday, anganwadi workers and helpers sat in protest outside the residence of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.