Anganwadi workers and helpers detained during ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ protests

The CITU and its allied associations gave a call for the protest seeking solutions to the long-pending problems of Anganwadi workers and helpers

Many Anganwadi workers and helpers were detained and placed under house arrest across Andhra Pradesh on March 20 (Monday) as the police foiled their ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ programme. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and its allied associations gave a call for the protest programme to mount pressure on the State government to provide solutions to the long-pending problems of Anganwadi workers and helpers.

Tension prevailed on Eluru Road in Vijayawada as hundreds of Anganwadi workers staged a rasta roko near the Besant Road Junction and raised slogans demanding the that government must fulfil the promises made by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Traffic movement on Eluru Road, one of the busiest roads in the city, was interrupted for hours due to the protest.

Anganwadi workers also staged protests at Padavala Revu Centre, Lenin Centre and other areas but they were confronted by the police.

The police including women officers detained the Anganwadi workers who were protesting on the roads.

The CPI(M) alleged that nearly 2,600 Anganwadi workers and helpers were detained on Eluru Road and other locations in the city before they were shifted to One Town, Ajith Singh Nagar, Machavaram, Governorpet, Krishnalanka, Patamata, Bhavanipuram, Nunna and Ibrahimpatnam police stations. Hundreds of them were shifted to a function hall in Satyanarayana Puram and CAR grounds in the city.

The protestors raised slogans against the government and staged protests at the police stations too.

CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao said that thousands of Anganwadi workers and helpers who tried to take part in the protest were arrested across the State. He alleged that applications seeking permission to stage protests were ignored by the police.