Thiruvananthapuram: The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers will launch an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday after their talks with the state government to end their 39-day-long agitation proved futile. Three workers—MA Bindu, R Sheeja, and KP Thankamani—will observe the hunger strike, representing hundreds of protesting women. These women, left with no other option, decided to intensify their protest as the government failed to take any action to meet their demands.

Sheeja, a native of Puthukurichi, told Manorama News that she has been unable to pay her home loan due to the non-payment of her honorarium. The majority of the women share similar stories of financial distress, which has forced them to join the protest.

Over 200 ASHA workers from various districts have been participating in the indefinite protest in Kerala since March 8. According to the protesters, around 26,000 ASHA workers in Kerala are awaiting the payment of at least two months’ honorarium of ₹7,000 each and three months’ incentives of around ₹5,000 each. The key demands of the protest include increasing the honorarium to ₹21,000, considering the workload, and ensuring a retirement benefit of ₹5 lakh for the workers.

Currently, ASHA workers have no fixed retirement age. They are also demanding that the government set fixed working hours, as they are often forced to work more than 12 hours per day.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Veena George reiterated that only the Central Government has the authority to decide on increasing ASHA workers' honorarium. As the protest intensified, the minister headed to New Delhi for talks with Union Health Minister JP Nadda. Manorama News reported that this crucial meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday.

According to the Kerala government, it has not received any financial grant from the Central Government under the National Health Mission (NHM) for 2023-24 to pay for various Centre-sponsored schemes, including ASHA workers' salaries. However, the Central Government has rejected the state’s claims, arguing that it has already disbursed the allocated funds but has not received the required utilization certificate from Kerala. It stated that once the certificate is submitted, the requisite funds will be provided to both the ASHA workers and the state.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda also announced in Parliament that the Mission Steering Group of the NHM has decided to raise incentives for ASHA workers. However, ASHA workers have yet to receive their pending payments as the state and Centre continue to blame each other.