After the undeniably successful six-hour blockade of the Kerala State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram today, the ASHA workers’ struggle for fair remuneration and humane working conditions enters another phase. The whole morning today when more than a thousand workers blocked the main thoroughfare in front of the Secretariat, the heat was unbearable. Eight workers collapsed and had to be hospitalised. At noon, clouds gathered and there were heavy downpours. The workers persisted with umbrellas and holding tarpaulin sheets over their heads. More than eight hundred police personnel were deployed — almost the same numbers as the protestors, some said. TV channels interviewed the protestors non-stop — each and every worker said with unambiguous determination that they intended to return home only after their demands were met.