Cops foil ASHA workers' protest march bid; over 8,000 detained

Hyderabad: Telangana Police foiled today's protest march planned by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers to the state Secretariat to press for their several demands and took into preventive custody over 8,000 of them across the state.
ASHA workers have been on strike since the last several days in different districts of the state demanding the Telangana Government for minimum monthly salary of Rs 15,000 among others.
According to Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma, keeping in view the law and order situation in Hyderabad city, police foiled the attempts by ASHA workers to hold their rally by taking them into custody in districts itself.
As many as 8,805 ASHA workers were taken into preventive custody in districts of Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Khammam, Adilabad, Ranga Reddy, Medak besides under Warangal Rural district and Warangal Commissionerate, a release from DGP office said.
ASHA workers planned to hold a rally today as part of their protest programme and lay seige to Secretariat. However, Hyderabad Police had yesterday denied them permission to hold the rally on the grounds that their proposed programme may likely to result in major law and order situation and disrupt traffic causing inconvenience to road users.
PTI