Mid-day meal workers’ stir exposes poor traffic mgmt

ibune News Service

Jammu, July 19

A brief protest by mid-day meal workers, mostly women, on the Bikram Chowk-Satwari road on Friday exposed the poor traffic management as some major roads remained choked due to long traffic snarls.

The protesting women were demanding their regularisation, hike in monthly salary and payment of regular wages.

Earlier, the traffic police remained conspicuous by their absence from the road. They rushed to the spot to clear the blockade only when the traffic movement on some major roads came to a grinding halt.

“Traffic chaos on city roads is not new but the unpreparedness of traffic police to deal with even small protests has exposed their poor management and faulty planning. Thousands of vehicles remained stuck in long traffic jams for a long time. The focus of traffic policemen is not on streamlining the vehicular movement, but to generate revenue and mint money from violators,” said Rajesh Kumar, who was delayed for his flight to Delhi after he was stuck in a traffic jam.

Meanwhile, the mid-day meal workers held a noisy demonstration against the state administration in support of their long-pending demands.

“We have been working at a salary of Rs 500 per month, but the government has never bothered to take a sympathetic view to address our issues. We cook food for 200 to 500 students in schools for a paltry amount and in return we are not even getting regular salaries,” the protesting workers said. They demanded regularisation of their jobs and regular salary at an enhanced rate.