Protest by mid-day meal employees in Guwahati; demand to hike remuneration

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Seeking payment as per government-fixed minimum wages and other benefits, the All Assam Mid-Day Meal Employees' Union staged a protest at Chachal here on Monday.

The union during the protest alleged that a conspiracy has been hatched to hand over the mid-day meal programme once again an NGO like Akshaya Patra Foundation. It further alleged that Akshaya Patra Foundation, by violating Central Government guidelines, has been paying a nominal monthly remuneration of Rs 500 to the mid-day meal workers who distribute the food to the students.

"In response to our demand that the monthly remuneration which was fixed way back in 2009 will be hiked from Rs 1,000, the amount was increased by a mere Rs 500 in the 2020-21 Assam Assembly budget. But since April 2021, the revised remuneration has not been paid. The mid-day meal workers are paid only for a period of 10 months in a year but the government is not concerned. Sometimes the remunerations are not paid for upto four months whereas when a primary school does not have a fourth-grade staff, the mid-day meal workers have to don the role of a sweeper, chowkidar and peon," said Kanaklata Das, the general secretary of the All Assam Mid-Day Meal Employees' Union.

The All Assam Mid-Day Meal Employees' Union, through a memorandum to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday, raised several demands. The union demanded that the government should terminate Akshaya Patra Foundation from the mid-day meal scheme in the State. Among the other demands included payment of arrear to the mid-day meal workers, payment of remuneration for all 12 months in a year and payment in the first week of the month.

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