Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday made several announcements in the interest of Anganwadi workers and helpers which includes giving Rs 1 lakh to Anganwadi workers and Rs 50,000 to helpers from December 31, 2021.
Along with this, the monthly honorarium will be increased to Rs 400 from September 2020 and Rs 450 from September 2021 and arrears for two years (years 2019-20 and 2020-21) along with incentive of Rs 1000 each will be given to all Anganwadi workers for working as frontline workers during COVID-19.
The Chief Minister made these announcements during a meeting held on Wednesday with the office bearers of Anganwadi Workers Union regarding their demands.
Khattar said no Anganwadi worker and helper would be removed from the Anganwadi centres. Rather, the state government is moving ahead in the direction of opening crèches along with Anganwadis in the state. These crèches will have even better facilities for children. Along with fresh candidates, Anganwadi workers will also get a chance for recruitment in these crèches.
He said Anganwadi workers will be covered under Ayushman Bharat scheme in future. Along with this, under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, an amount of Rs 2 lakh will be provided in case of an accident. Under this scheme, a premium of Rs 12 per month will be paid by the state government.
On hearing about the death of two Anganwadi workers of Jhajjar district in an accident recently, Khattar announced an immediate release of Rs. 2 lakh each for the victims on the spot. He said that the rent of all Anganwadi centres would be given by the Panchayat or ULB after review from the PWD. He said that a policy would be formulated for promotion of Anganwadi workers to the post of supervisor through written examination. The CM said that all the Anganwadi workers will be given one mobile phone each by the department so that they can keep the complete data report related to their Anganwadi online and maintain regular updates on the nutrition tracker app. For this training will be given to Anganwadi workers, pointing out that the use of technology brings transparency in the system and also eliminates the possibility of any malpractices.
The representatives of Anganwadi Workers Union after the meeting expressed their gratitude to the chief minister for accepting their demands and for announcements made. They added that these announcements of the Chief Minister would directly benefit the families of thousands of Anganwadi workers and helpers in the state.