Ghugus council pays ASHA workers 10 months' honorarium; 12 months still due, sit-in continues

ASHA workers in Ghugus, Chandrapur district, have received relief from the municipal council, which has paid 10 months of their pending honorarium. The women had risked their lives to take health services door to door during the difficult days of the Covid-19 pandemic. They began a sit-in on November 4, 2026, and the payment followed. However, 12 months of honorarium are still outstanding, and their sit-in over that demand continues.

At a press conference at the Ghugus Municipal Council on Thursday, November 12, 2026, Vice-President Raju Reddy said the 10 months of pending honorarium had been paid on the initiative of the council president, the vice-president and the chief officer.

Reddy said it was extremely unfortunate that the honorarium of ASHA workers, who served people without regard for their own lives during the most frightening phase of the pandemic, had been delayed for years. He demanded that the Maharashtra Mahayuti government, led by the BJP, release the remaining 12 months of dues immediately.

Reddy launched a sharp attack on local BJP leaders. According to him, although the BJP and the Mahayuti are in power in the state, local BJP leaders are questioning the Congress office-bearers of the Ghugus Municipal Council, which he called incomprehensible.

He said, "The responsibility for paying honorarium to ASHA workers lies with the state government and the district health department. When the money has to come from the government, for how long and from where will the municipal council pay from its own funds? Instead of playing politics in the name of agitation, BJP leaders should try to get the remaining dues of the ASHA workers from their own government."

Reddy made clear that the municipal council administration stands firmly with the ASHA workers and that the remaining honorarium will also be paid at once as soon as funds are received from the government.

Criticising the government, Reddy said a government that gave the slogan of "achhe din" should not withhold the dues of women who acted as a shield for society in a time of crisis. According to him, the ASHA workers carried out their duties in extremely difficult conditions, and they are entitled to full payment for their work. He demanded that the state government release funds immediately and pay the remaining 12 months of honorarium.

At the same press conference, Roshan Parshuram Pachare also raised questions about the functioning of the council administration. He said that for the past one-and-a-half to two months neither a monthly meeting nor an emergency meeting had been held. Even so, he said, the chief officer used the powers of the post to have the 10 months of honorarium deposited in the ASHA workers' accounts at once.

Pachare demanded that the pending salaries, bills and other stalled work of the council's permanent and temporary employees be cleared in the same way. He asked why, if the administration could act so quickly on the ASHA workers' honorarium, officials did not show the same promptness in the pending matters of permanent and temporary employees.

The ASHA workers' 10-month honorarium has been paid, but the question of the 12-month arrears remains. The matter has also heated up the issue of pending bills of the council's permanent and temporary employees. All eyes are now on when the state government will decide on the ASHA workers' arrears and when the council administration will act on the pending matters of the other employees.

Those present included Vice-President Raju Reddy, Works Committee Chairman Roshan Pachare, Dilip Pittalwar, Pallavi Ghule, Sunita Pendor, Alim Sheikh, Sudhakar Chikankar and Roshan Dantalwar.