TMC, BJP in a war of words as thousands of health workers agitate in Kolkata

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party engaged in a war of words, as thousands of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), braving police restrictions across West Bengal, took to the streets of Kolkata on Wednesday to demand a threefold increase in their monthly honorarium.

With the assembly elections in West Bengal just a few months away, the BJP sought to reap the political dividends of the agitation by the community health workers and their anger against the TMC government.

As police detained several ASHAs and stopped a large number of them from travelling to Kolkata from across West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP heavyweight and the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, called the TMC government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “barbaric”, accusing the state administration of being “inhuman” and of “endangering democracy” in the state.

Tacitly hitting out at the BJP, Chandrima Bhattacharya, a senior TMC leader and the state’s minister of state for health, advised the agitating ASHAs not to let anyone exploit them for vested political interests.

The ASHAs in districts across West Bengal have been on an indefinite cease-work over the past several weeks, demanding that they be paid a monthly honorarium at the rate of Rs 15000 instead of the existing Rs 5250. They have also been demanding job security and health insurance coverage.

Many of them arrived in Kolkata early in the morning on Wednesday and found security cordons outside major railway stations in the city. Police detained several protesters to stop them from marching towards Swasthya Bhawan, the headquarters of the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the state government in Salt Lake.

The protesting community health workers later regrouped in central Kolkata and the Salt Lake area, attempting to move towards the Swasthya Bhavan. The police erected barricades at key crossings, resulting in brief confrontations. The situation eased only after hours of road blockades that slowed traffic in commercial and office hubs.

The ASHAs later staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the Swasthya Bhavan.

The health workers later decided to call off the sit-in demonstration, but to continue the cease-work stir. They also told journalists that they would protest across the state on Thursday against the police action to stop them from marching towards the Swasthya Bhavan.