Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government today hiked the remuneration and service termination incentive of ASHA Workers of the state.

As per the announcement, the monthly remuneration of ASHA Workers has been increased to Rs 7,000 from Rs 4,500 and the service termination incentive to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 50,000.

With the hike, a total of 49,522 ASHA Workers will be benefited across Odisha. For this, the State Government will spend an additional Rs 148.57 Crore a year.

While the State Government will bear the expenditure of Rs 208 Crore per annum towards remuneration payment of the ASHA Workers, a total of Rs 55 lakh will be spent from the state exchequer annually for service interruption assistance following the increase, stated a release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).