Jodhpur: After Pali, Anganwadi workers and helpers from Jodhpur and Jalore Friday staged a sit-in outside their respective district collectorates, demanding higher honorariums, regularisation of services and implementation of long-pending welfare measures. The protesters warned of intensifying the agitation if the state govt failed to address their demands.Workers and helpers marched to the collectorates in rallies before submitting memorandums to the administration. Raising slogans against the govt, they sought immediate intervention over delayed honorarium payments and other service-related issues.Protesters said Anganwadi workers in Rajasthan receive a monthly honorarium of Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000, which they described as inadequate amid rising living costs. They alleged that payments are often delayed, causing financial hardship to workers and their families.Anganwadi worker Kiran Kumari said personnel in Madhya Pradesh reportedly receive between Rs 13,000 and Rs 15,000 per month. “Workers in Rajasthan are paid much less. The honorarium should be revised to remove this disparity,” she said.The protesters demanded that the Rajasthan govt formulate a policy to regularise Anganwadi workers as govt employees. Until then, they sought monthly wages of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 in line with court observations on minimum wages.They also demanded a ban on contractual appointments in the Women and Child Development Department and an audit of contractual engagements under the Kumher project.The workers urged the govt to stop assigning them non-departmental duties such as census work and online distribution of sanitary napkins, saying these divert them from child nutrition and welfare responsibilities. They also demanded immediate implementation of the 2025-26 budget announcement on gratuity for retired Anganwadi personnel, enhanced rent assistance for Anganwadi centres, a Rs 10 lakh retirement benefit, timely settlement of insurance claims and extension of summer vacations for children enrolled at the centres until June 30.A similar protest by Anganwadi workers in Pali entered its second day Friday.
