Kerala ASHA workers to launch Statewide protest march from Kasaragod on May 5

ASHA workers in Kerala to begin Statewide protest march on May 5, demanding liveable honorarium and retirement benefits.

Intensifying their ongoing agitation, ASHA workers, who have been staging a day-night strike in front of the Kerala Secretariat for 78 days, announced a Statewide protest march beginning from Kasaragod on May 5.

The Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA) said the march, to be led by its State vice president S. Mini and State general secretary M.A. Bindu, aims to spread awareness about its demands across Kerala and will culminate in Thiruvananthapuram on June 17.

Announcing the move at a press conference here on Monday, Ms. Mini said the government’s “failure to respond to their demands for a liveable honorarium” and retirement benefits has forced them to take the agitation across the State. Despite widespread public support, the government’s “undemocratic“ stance continues to deny justice to women health workers, she alleged.

The march will cross all 14 districts, halting at major towns where public meetings will be held with the participation of socio-cultural organisations, people’s representatives and activists.

The march is set to begin from Kasaragod bus stand at 10 a.m. on May 5 and pass through Badiyadukka, Kuttikol and Kanhangad on the first day. It will continue through Parappa, Neeleswaram, Cheruvathur and Kalikadavu on May 6. Each night, the protest will replicate the day-night-sit in model currently under way at the Secretariat.

A district-level welcome meeting will be held at Kasaragod Vyapari Bhavan on May 29 to prepare for the march’s reception.

Other leaders present at the press meet expressed confidence that the public would rally behind the ASHA workers in the demonstrations.