For four days, over 10,000 women anganwadi workers sat under the blazing sun and slept on the road protesting for an increase in wages – and the protests came at a huge cost to the health of at least a couple of hundred women.
Dr Ravi Kumar, Medical Superintendent of KC General Hospital in Malleshwaram, said that the doctors deployed on the spot to attend to emergencies treated nearly 200 anganwadi workers for various ailments during the protest on Seshadri Road, outside Freedom Park.
“Nearly 20 of them were shifted to KC General and Victoria Hospital, and by Thursday night as many as 192 women were treated. Since they were sitting under the sun, without proper food and water, some faced dehydration and others suffered from low sugar levels and headaches. A woman police constable also fell sick,” Dr Ravi Kumar said.
On Thursday alone, 11 protesters were taken to KC General Hospital, three of them underwent an ECG and were later taken to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology.
“Many of these workers who were above the age of 50 and suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes. They fell sick as they had skipped their medicines. Even after being discharged from the OPD, they went back to protest,” Dr Ravi Kumar added.
Thousands of anganwadi workers stopped protesting at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park late on Thursday night as soon as they had the Chief Minister’s assurance for a fair increase in wages.
The working women, all of them wearing red, hailed the BMTC transport provided to them and gradually dispersed.
While some of the protestors left last night to catch trains, a few others stayed back and boarded the trains on Friday morning.
A silence washed over Sheshadri Road, which abuts Freedom Park, which was bustling with angry anganwadi workers shouting slogans, just four days ago.
“We have met the CM halfway and agreed to meet with him on April 10 after the Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypoll. If the hike is not to our satisfaction, then we will protest outside the CM’s house, and it will be an indefinite one,” said Varalakshmi, President of the Karnataka Anganwadi Workers’ Association.