Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today took an important decision and announced an increase in the monthly remuneration of the Asha Workers of the state. The remuneration has been hiked from Rs 4500 to Rs 7000. In addition to this, the employee termination incentive amount of the Asha Workers has also been hiked. This will benefit 49,522 Asha Workers of the state. For this, the state government will spend an additional Rs. 148.57 crores per year.
It is worth mentioning that during the visit of the 5T Chairman Kartik Pandian to various districts for grievance hearing, the Asha Workers and their associations had met him and made requests and gave proposals regarding salary increase.
According to the announcement, the monthly salary of Asha Workers has been increased from Rs.4,500 to Rs.7,000. While earlier they were getting Rs 50,000 during termination of service, now they will get Rs 1 lakh. The state government was spending Rs 59.43 crore annually on their salary, but now it will spend Rs 208 crore annually. Similarly, the state government will bear the expenditure of Rs. 55 lakhs as service interruption assistance.
Asha workers are continuously working for supporting the pregnant women in the state. They have successfully created awareness about various government schemes meant for pregnant and postpartum women. In addition to this, the Asha workers have also been carrying the important responsibility of vaccination and Institutional Delivery as well.