Naidu grants gratuity, paid maternity leave to ASHA workers

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has approved payment of gratuity and 180 days of paid maternity leave for the 42,752 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), apart from enhancement of their retirement age to 62 years.

ASHA workers are an important link between the people of AP and the healthcare system in Andhra Pradesh. Recognising their services, the CM directed that gratuity be paid to ASHA workers. With this, each ASHA worker, who has worked for 30 years, will be getting a retirement benefit of ₹1.50 lakh each.

“AP has become the first state to grant such a benefit to health workers in the country,” Naidu underlined.

The Chief Minister’s announcements have come in the wake of a review meeting he had held with health minister Satya Kumar Yadav and senior officials on January 7 with regard to demands being raised by ASHA workers for a long time.

In that meeting, Chandrababu Naidu had directed officials to examine the benefits being extended to ASHA workers in other states, including their wages and post-retirement benefits.

Following their report, the Chief Minister on Friday directed the authorities concerned to pay gratuity to ASHA workers, even though it had not been part of the pre-election assurance given to them.

Further, the CM gave his approval to increase the retirement age of ASHA workers to 62 years from the present 60 years in a bid to meet their long standing demand. In addition, eligible ASHA workers will be extended paid maternity leave for 180 days for the first two deliveries.

Previously, in 2018, Chandrababu Naidu had helped ASHA workers by extending benefits like providing smartphones, giving preference to them in recruitment of ANMS, extending to them the benefits of Chandranna Bhima Yojana and Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva, and payment of old age pension to them.

At the time, the monthly remuneration of ₹10,000 being paid to ASHAs in AP had been the highest in the country, compared to ₹750 in Uttar Pradesh, ₹2,000 in Himachal Pradesh, ₹2,700 in Rajasthan, ₹3,000 each in West Bengal and Delhi, ₹4,000 in Haryana and Karnataka, ₹5,000 in Kerala, ₹6,000 in Sikkim, and ₹7,000 in Telangana.

Health minister Satya Kumar has thanked Chandrababu Naidu for meeting the long-standing demands of ASHA workers.