greater noida anganwadi workers engaged in doortodoor screening and sanitation of areas falling in covid19 hotspots have demanded adequate provisions while on duty including protective gear and availability of food and waterthe move comes after a worker fell unconscious due to dehydration in dharmpura village on thursday in a letter written to the district magistrate on friday the district association of workers flagged the problems they are facing in the discharge of their duties and have put forward several demands including mandatory health insurance remuneration protective gear and food and water they have also sought that those over 40 years of age be exempted from dutythe administration has engaged 450 workers out of the districts 1100 anganwadi workersdivided into teams of three workers each they have been asked to survey around 100 homes in a day on thursday afternoon kamlesh an anganwadi worker was rushed to the community health centre chc in badalpur after she fell unconscious in dhampura a doctor at the chc said that she collapsed due to dehydrationh s nimesh district head of the anganwadi workers association said the due process of conducting surveys is not being followed workers are being assigned to carry out surveys in areas where they have never been before no social distancing is being followed in the buses most of them are not even getting a pair of gloves or sanitisers he saidnimesh added that unlike anganwadi workers asha workers have a mandatory health insurance of rs 50 lakh and are being offered remuneration to work towards preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus meanwhile district programme officer poonam tiwari said she is personally ensuring that every worker is getting masks and gloves body protection gear cant be given to workers as of now so we have taught them certain ways to operate without physical contact like using a stick to avoid touching doors she said anganwadi worker kanti devi from bisrakh block who is over 60 years old said the lack of clear directions from the administration on how to work is causing chaos everyday we are asked to wait at the bus stops in our villages where roadways buses are supposed to come and take us to the places where surveys are to be done but they usually drop us at the police station where we wait for further directions we cant even drink water while on duty as we dont have gloves or sanitiser she saidlata baisoya another worker from dadri block added the government should provide at least the basics like sanitisers gloves and better masks