PATNA: Soon after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a hike in the incentive amount for ASHA and Mamta workers, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Tejashwi Yadav accused the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of "copying" initiatives he had proposed during his tenure as Health Minister.
In a strongly worded post on the social media platform X, Tejashwi alleged that the move was a delayed and partial implementation of his efforts.
"When I was the Health Minister for 17 months, I had initiated the process of increasing the incentive for ASHA and Mamta workers, which had reached its final stage. But the government and the Chief Minister, as usual, backed out. This useless NDA government kept the proposal on hold for two years. Now, under pressure, they are finally forced to act, " Tejashwi said.
He further criticised the government for calling it an "incentive" rather than a full-fledged honorarium, stating: "We don't want them to just get incentive amounts - we will give them proper honorariums."
Tejashwi also asserted that the current government would now be "forced" to accept his demands for increasing the honorarium of Anganwadi workers/helpers and mid-day meal cooks.
Highlighting the RJD-led initiatives during his tenure, he said: "We had increased the honorariums of Vikas Mitras, Shiksha Mitras, Tola Sevaks, Talimi Markaz workers, and Panchayati Raj representatives."