Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday announced a fixed monthly allowance of Rs 2,500 for ASHA, news agency ANI quoted saying Punjab State government.
The new fixed allowance will be against the earlier amount received by them based on just the incentives.
The government said that the move would likely benefit nearly 22,000 ASHA workers.
At the same time, CM announced to increase the honorarium of mid-day meal workers by Rs 1000. 42,205 mid-day meal workers employed at 19,300 government schools in the state had been receiving a meagre Rs 2,200 per month. This had been increased to Rs 3,000 per month, the CM said.
The allowance will now be given for 12 months instead of 10 months, he said.
The Accredited Social Health Activist or ASHA is a community health worker instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a part of India's National Rural Health Mission.
They are a trained female community health activist selected from the community itself and accountable to it.
At present, there are over 9 Lakh ASHA workers in India.
Earlier last week, in a relief to the farmers of Punjab, the chief minister had announced that the farmers will be given a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh and that land mortgages will also be waived in the next 10 days.
The amount will be deposited in the accounts of farmers in the next 10-15 days. Rs 2,000 crore has been set aside for farmers, Charanjit Singh Channi had said.