Aurangabad: A large number of anganwadi workers from across the district staged an agitation on Wednesday to highlight various pending demands including revision of monthly honorarium and reforms in transfer policy.Standing united under the banner of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), over 2,000 people staged the protest outside Aurangabad zilla parishad. The protesters later tried to barge into the cabin of zilla parishad CEO Pavneet Kaur, but were detained by the police.Leftist leader Ram Baheti accused the state government for not increasing the monthly honorarium of anganwadi workers for the past four months despite announcement from the Centre.“Anganwadi sevikas are slated to get a hike of Rs1,500 per month taking their salary to Rs9,000 per month, while monthly honorarium of anganwadi assistants is expected to increase from Rs3,500 per month to Rs4,500 per month, as announced by the Centre. The state government, however, has failed to endorse the decision taken by the Central government,” Baheti said, adding that affected staffers were running out of patience.Pressing for reforms in the transfer policy, Baheti said the existing rules do not allow posting of Anganwadi workers near their home. “The monthly honorarium of staffers is relatively low and they cannot afford expenses towards travelling far from their homes. There is a need to reform the existing anti-employee norms,” he said.Among other demands, protesters also raised the pitch for release of retirement benefits. “The government in the past had announced one-time retirement benefit of Rs1 lakh and Rs75,000 to anganwadi sevikas and assistants, respectively. However, no such aid has been released,” an anganwadi sevika said.The protest also saw overwhelming response to the demand for releasing pending Travelling Allowance (TA). “The TA of staffers is kept on hold for over three years. These staffers need to attend at least two meetings outstation and therefore needs timely release of TA,” another protester said.Aurangabad district has around 3,000 anganwadis that employs over 6,000 staffers.

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