Neelam Paliwal, one of the two Anganwadi workers who began a fast unto death three days ago was picked by the police on Wednesday afternoon due to health issues caused by high blood pressure. Subsequently, Bhagyashree Uniyal took her place in the strike, said the State Anganwadi workers association president Rekha.
She further added that police were taking Manorama Nautiyal too, but the other protesters did not allow that to happen. One of the Anganwadi protestors Seema Singh said, “We are told that our allowance will be deducted but we do not care. We’ll consider it as a donation to the government. If we will get suspended, we’ll be suspended together. We have been insulted a lot by this government which does not even know about our work. Not a single Anganwadi worker will return to work till the government gives us what we women rightfully deserve for our work.” Meanwhile, considering the aspects of the protest which has been going on for more than a month, the authorities have increased the number of police personnel deployed at the protest site near Parade Ground.
It is worth mentioning that till now three Anganwadi protestors have been admitted to the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital due to the ongoing fast unto death strike and none of them has been discharged from there yet. The workers are demanding payment at par with Anganwadi workers of Delhi and Haryana and benefit of Provident Fund (PF) and medical reimbursement as provided to the state government employees.