Karur stampede: SC to hear tomorrow TVK's plea challenging HC order to set up SIT
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Friday the plea filed by Tamil actor Vijay's political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, challenging the Madras High Court order directing that an SIT be constituted to probe the Karur stampede in which 41 people were killed.
The apex court had on Tuesday agreed to hear the plea on October 10.
A bench comprising Justices J K Maheshwari and N V Anjaria is scheduled to hear the matter as per the apex court cause list.
On Tuesday, the CJI-headed bench agreed to hear BJP leader Uma Anandan's plea challenging the high court order refusing a CBI probe into the September 27 stampede.
The TVK has sought an independent investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court, contending that a fair and impartial probe would not be possible if conducted solely by officers of the Tamil Nadu Police.
The plea has objected to the high court constituting a special investigation team (SIT) only with officers of the Tamil Nadu Police.
It alleged the possibility of a pre-planned conspiracy by some miscreants that led to the stampede.
The plea also took exception to scathing remarks of the high court against the party and the actor politician that they abandoned the place after the incident, and that they did not express any remorse.
Earlier, police said the rally saw a turnout of 27,000, nearly three times the expected 10,000 participants, and blamed a seven-hour delay by Vijay in reaching the venue for the tragedy.
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ASHA workers threaten indefinite strike from Feb 27 over rationalisation order, pending demands
Bengaluru: ASHA workers in Karnataka have warned of launching an indefinite strike from February 27, protesting a health department order to rationalise the workforce and alleging that long-pending demands have not been addressed.
The Karnataka State Joint ASHA Workers’ Association criticised the department’s decision to increase the population assigned to each ASHA worker, arguing that it violates existing norms and would lead to large-scale job losses. According to current norms, one ASHA worker is assigned for every 1,000 individuals. Under the current rationalisation plan, the allotted population in rural regions has been increased to up to 2,000, while in metropolitan areas with populations more than 50,000, the number has been raised from 1,000 to a minimum of 2,500 and a maximum of 3,000.
Deccan Herald quoted D Nagalakshmi, state secretary of the ASHA Union affiliated to AITUC, as saying the department had conveyed that an honorarium of ₹10,000 could not be ensured unless the population coverage per worker was increased. She alleged that workers were effectively being asked to accept higher workloads while excess ASHAs would be removed. “This would render nearly 7,000 to 8,000 ASHA workers jobless, and such a move is being carried out only in Karnataka,” she said.
At present, the state government pays ASHA workers a monthly honorarium of ₹5,000, while the Centre provides performance-based incentives. Workers said accessing these incentives has become difficult as data must be entered on the ASHA portal by primary health community officers, but vacancies in these posts have not been filled.
The workers have also submitted a set of pre-Budget demands, seeking an increase in the combined state and central incentives to ₹15,000 and enhancement of the state honorarium to ₹ 8,000, in line with promises made in the Congress election manifesto. Other demands include a lump-sum retirement benefit on the lines of West Bengal, creation of a corpus fund to meet treatment expenses of ASHA workers suffering from serious illnesses with reimbursement provisions, and payment of a fixed monthly honorarium for up to three months during recovery from severe illness.
ASHA workers had staged an indefinite protest in January over similar issues. On the fourth day of the agitation, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and assured the workers that their demands would be met.
