ASHA workers protest in West Bengal, demand COVID vaccination for family, financial aid

ASHA workers protest in Siliguri on Tuesday. [Photo/ANI]

Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], July 28 (ANI): Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers on Tuesday staged a protest demanding that the government fulfil its promise of vaccinating their families and providing a financial cover of Rs 1 lakh as compensation for the treatment of the infection.

The ASHA workers protested outside the Siliguri Municipal Corporation's building on Tuesday.

Speaking to ANI, Rupa Prasad, an ASHA worker said, "Since we have been on COVID duty, we demand that our families should receive COVID vaccination. We are visiting villages, going from home to home, door to door for COVID duty putting our families at great risk of contracting the infection. Many ASHA workers contracted the infection while on duty."

She further said, "Also, the government had told us that we would be provided with Rs 1 lakh for COVID treatment, but that money has not been disbursed by the government yet. Many of the ASHA workers died from the disease because they did not have enough money for treatment."

"We are putting ourselves at risk and doing COVID duty. The government should think about us. We have not yet been our salaries. Earlier we used to receive our salaries between the 7th and 10th of each month. We all are poor women, the salary is the main source of our income. If the government will not release our salaries on time, what shall we do, where will we go?" questioned the ASHA worker.

Meanwhile, India reported 29,689 fresh COVID cases and 416 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health Ministry.

The country today has reported less than 30,000 daily cases after 132 days.

As per the Ministry of Health, the active caseload of India is 3,98,100, and the daily positivity rate is 1.73 per cent.

The ministry also informed that 44.19 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive so far, and 45.91 crore Covid tests have also been conducted. (ANI)