Nearly 45 Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) contract staff in the State are yet to be paid salary for four months after they were let go abruptly at the end of June.
The MSK is a Centrally sponsored project for the empowerment of rural women with community participation. In the State, the MSK contract staff have been implementing the Women and Child Development Department’s projects since the end of 2020. At the end of this June, they were let go as no word had been received from the Union government on continuing the project in this financial year, as per a department communication.
However, the staff are yet to get salary for four months as the Central funding ended in March. The project, they say, is being redrawn by the Union government as women empowerment hubs. The Centre had, earlier this year, announced the implemention of ‘Mission Shakti’ as an integrated programme in mission mode for the safety, care and protection, and empowerment of women, and one of its components is the hubs for empowerment of women.
