Mid-day meal workers seek job regularisation

Patiala, January 2

Mid-day meal workers today held a protest demanding regularisation of their jobs, provision of holidays and insurance scheme. Women workers who have provided their services for about 15 years at government schools held the protest at an open ground in Baran village.

The women workers said they work and prepare food for school students in extreme hot and cold conditions to ensure that they are fed on time.

Mid-day meal workers Kulwant Kaur and Manjit Kaur said they are only being exploited by the state government. “The government has failed to make provisions for gas cylinders at schools. It has neither regularised our jobs nor increased our salaries. The government should give us uniforms, identity cards, holidays, a minimum salary of Rs 18,000 per month and a minimum life insurance of Rs 5 lakh. It should also pay us within the first five days of the month,” one of them said.