Anganwadi workers in Shravasti await five months of delayed incentive payments

Anganwadi workers in Shravasti's Jamunahaa project have been left without their Performance-Linked Incentive (PLI) payments for the past five months, prompting formal complaints to district authorities. The workers, who have consistently met all required performance benchmarks, say they have not received the incentive amounts due from April 2026 through August 2026.

Kusumlata, Block President of the Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Association in Jamunahaa, has submitted a formal grievance letter to the District Programme Officer (DPO) in Shravasti demanding immediate release of the pending payments. The complaint highlights that despite workers diligently feeding all mandatory data for PLI eligibility into the Poshan Tracker app each month, the incentive disbursements have been inexplicably stalled since April.

The Performance-Linked Incentive scheme is designed to reward anganwadi workers for meeting nutrition and child development targets tracked through the government's digital monitoring system. Workers are required to regularly update child growth measurements, nutrition distribution records, and other health parameters on the Poshan Tracker application. Meeting these benchmarks entitles them to additional monthly payments beyond their regular honorarium.

The five-month payment freeze has created financial hardship for the anganwadi workforce, who already operate on modest honorariums while serving as the backbone of India's rural nutrition and early childhood care network. With workers having fulfilled all technical and operational requirements for the incentive, the delay raises questions about administrative bottlenecks or fund allocation issues at the district or project level. The association is now pressing for swift resolution and immediate clearance of all arrears owed to workers in the Jamunahaa project area.