Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today stated that the current state government was blamed for the long-pending arrears of ASHA workers’ stipends even though these were building up unpaid since the previous Congress-led administration.
The ASHA benefit scheme began in 2012-13.
“They paid the ASHAs in 2012-13 Rs 7.8 crores. In 2013-14 they paid them nothing. From 2014-to 2015 they paid them Rs 10 crores and from 2015 to 2018 the previous government never paid the ASHAs. All the benefits were building up for five years and immediately when our government came in (in 2018) we were blamed for not clearing the ASHAs salary or benefits, not realizing that all these backlogs were from the previous government’s time,” Sangma said.
Since coming to power, the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government has cleared around Rs 80 crore in dues, the most recent of which was a Rs 53 crore tranche this week.
“We have continuously been paying the ASHAs for three years, not only for our period but also for the backlog of the previous government and still we never complain or blame them,” he said.
