Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced a slew of welfare concessions — seen as an attempt to woo voters ahead of the local body polls — Finance Minister KN Balagopal on Thursday reaffirmed the government’s confidence in fulfilling its commitments, saying it “will not run away from its obligations and assurances.”

Balagopal said these commitments, which include increases in welfare pensions, higher honorariums for ASHA workers and a new security scheme for women, come at a time when the state is economically constrained by financial restrictions imposed by the central government.

"There will be a burden on the state following the new packages, and it would be tough to implement them, but we are confident we can do it. We do not make promises or announcements that we cannot fulfil," the minister told the media.

He said the DA-DR arrears to state government employees would be paid in three instalments this financial year itself.

As local body elections approach, the LDF on Wednesday unveiled a package of financial measures, including increasing various social security and welfare pensions from ₹1,600 to ₹2,000, hiking the monthly honorarium of ASHA workers by ₹1,000, and launching a new scheme to provide financial support to women from poor families.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurian called the announcements election-time populist tactics. "We always see such announcements before the elections. Nothing new about it," he told reporters.

The group of ASHA workers protesting outside the state secretariat for over 250 days said that the increase in their honorarium by ₹1,000 per month, effective from November 1, was a small amount. "But we see it as a gain and an important victory of our protest," said MA Bindu, state general secretary of the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA). Bindu contended that the government, which claimed it was not responsible for increasing ASHA workers' honorariums, has bowed before them.

They had demanded a hike in their state-paid honorarium from ₹7,000 to ₹21,000, as well as a post-retirement benefit of ₹5 lakh.
Bindu said the next phase of the agitation would be launched after the deliberation with other protesters.