ASHA workers’ protest chokes city, traffic thrown out of gear

Kolkata witnessed widespread traffic disruption on Wednesday as thousands of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers took to the streets in a massive protest, affecting large parts of central Kolkata, Salt Lake and arterial highways in several districts.

Roads were blocked, vehicular movement slowed to a crawl and police detained several protesters amid heightened tension.

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According to police sources, ASHA workers travelling from Howrah and Sealdah attempted to assemble at Esplanade and allegedly tried to break through police barricades. Several protesters were detained as security forces moved in to prevent them from marching towards the state health department headquarters at Swasthya Bhavan in Salt Lake. The agitation resulted in severe congestion across key corridors, with commuters stranded for hours.

The protesters are demanding a minimum monthly honorarium of Rs 15,000 along with a host of other benefits. Their agitation has been continuing for nearly a month, and Wednesday marked yet another call for a “march to Swasthya Bhavan”. Ahead of the programme, ASHA workers alleged that police had carried out large-scale preventive actions across districts to stop them from reaching Kolkata.

Protesters claimed that in several places they were forcibly stopped while travelling to the city. In some districts, ASHA workers were allegedly deboarded from buses bound for Kolkata, while in others they were prevented from boarding local and long-distance trains. These actions, they said, triggered spontaneous road blockades and demonstrations.

In East Burdwan district, around 60 ASHA workers from Ausgram-I block were on their way to join the programme when they were allegedly forced to get down from their bus at Shibda Mor on the Burdwan-Siuri national highway.

Enraged by the move, the workers blocked the highway, leading to a massive traffic jam and heightened tension in the area. Police rushed to the spot and tried to lift the blockade as long queues of vehicles had built up on both sides of the road.

In Kolkata, a sea of protesters in their distinctive purple sarees marched through Howrah, Sealdah and Esplanade, bringing large parts of the city to a standstill. Traffic police sources said that while no road had been officially closed, several diversions were enforced to manage the situation. MG Road and SN Banerjee Road were effectively closed to regular traffic, with vehicles diverted through alternative routes. Heavy congestion was reported along Lenin Sarani and AJC Bose Road, while vehicles approaching from Sealdah and Dharmatala were redirected via Mallick Bazar and parts of MG Road.

In Howrah, however, traffic remained relatively manageable due to lower vehicular volume. In Salt Lake, roads from Swasthya Bhavan up to Wipro More in Sector V were closed as a precautionary measure.

State minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya appealed to ASHA workers not to fall prey to “provocation”. Addressing a Press conference on Wednesday, she said the state government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stood by the ASHA workers and pointed out that their honorarium had increased more than six-fold during the present regime. “Do not become victims of politics. Those instigating you have no standing in the state,” she said. There are around 72,000 ASHA workers in West Bengal. They have been on a statewide work boycott since 23 December.

At present, they receive an honorarium of Rs 5,250 per month. Apart from raising it to Rs 15,000, the workers are demanding leave benefits at par with government employees, a one-time compensation of Rs lakh to families in case of death during service, and immediate clearance of all dues by discontinuing the incentive-based payment system. The ASHA workers have announced that they will observe a “dhikkar diwas” on Thursday to protest what they describe as continued obstruction and suppression of their movement.