Minister Sivankutty asks ASHA workers to send their cut hair to Centre

The minister stated that ASHA workers should have staged their protest and hair-cutting demonstration before the Centre in New Delhi.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers on strike in Kerala cut their hair on Monday as their stir entered the 50th day.

Several ASHA workers who are on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the government secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram joined the hair cut protest. Expressing solidarity with them, ASHA workers in other districts also cut their hair.

Meanwhile, the state labour minister V Sivankutty further provoked the ASHA workers by asking them to send the hair to the Centre. It is for the Centre to increase the remuneration of ASHA workers and not the state government, the CPI(M) leader said in a statement.

Increasing honorarium to Rs. 21,000 as assured in the CPI(M)'s 2021 election manifesto and retirement benefit of Rs 5 lakh are the key demands of the ASHA workers.