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Delhi

Amid stir, govt hikes anganwadis' pay

Amid stir, govt hikes anganwadis pay
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New Delhi: As Delhi's anaganwadi workers continued their indefinite strike for over 25 days, Women and Child Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Thursday announced that the Cabinet had cleared a raise in honorarium for anganwadi workers and helpers. Now, they will be paid Rs 12,720 and Rs 6,810 respectively, including the increased communication and convenience fees.

However, when asked about the demands for a government employee tag, the Delhi minister said, "The Anganwadi workers and helpers are voluntary workers, their demand for recognition as government employees cannot be decided by us, we have to follow the Indian government so the inclusion of ESI and PF cannot be fulfilled by us."

While announcing the hike in pay for the anganwadis, Gautam said, "In view of the rising prices of essential commodities and basic living, the government is of the view that the anganwadis' demands are fair and we have decided to give them an appropriate increase."

He also emphasised that after this increment the anganwadi workers will be getting the highest salary among their counterparts across India. The increased honorarium and allowance will be paid from March, he said. Significantly, in addition to demanding that they be recognised as government employees and get ESI and PF, they had demanded that the monthly remuneration should be hiked to Rs 25,000 (anganwadi workers) and Rs 20,000 (helpers) respectively.

While concluding the presser, Gautam said, "The Delhi government has kept its words and gave a much increase in their salaries and now I urge the women to go back to work and carry out their daily services for the community".

"A few days back, I had a meeting with some Anganwadi unions in which they presented a list of their demands. We informed them that we will come to a positive decision regarding their demands in the next 7 days," Gautam said.

However, the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union (DSAWHU) was not part of this meeting and it was held with just CITU-affiliated DAWHU. The DSAWHU, which has been leading the protest in Civil Lines here, had said that the CITU-affiliate did not represent the actual demands of the protesters.

The DSAWHU had said a day before the meeting that they would not agree to any meeting that would include the CITU-affiliate and hence had thus rejected the invitation to join the negotiations.

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