Mid-day meal workers rue meagre wages

Manav Mander
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, October 14

Mid-day meal workers allege that the government is exploiting them as they are being paid just Rs1,700 per month. The irony is that even after working for nearly half of the day, preparing meals for schoolchildren so that nobody returns home empty stomach, they themselves sometimes sleep without having their meals. With the meager salary of Rs1,700, it becomes difficult for them to run their homes. The workers are being paid for only 10 months, and during summer and winter break, they do not receive any salary.

Baby is working as a mid-day worker at Government Primary School, PAU, for the past three years. “I always wanted to work instead of sitting idle at home. My family thought this was a good option for me. Despite the fact that I am working diligently from the past three years, there has been only an increase of Rs 200 since I started working. The amount that we get here is too small. I don’t know whether to continue or leave my work as there is a little chance of wages being increased,” she said.

Another mid-day worker Sarita, who is also working in the same school, said, “We get a meager salary of Rs 1,700 and that too only for 10 months. No money is given to us during summer and winter breaks. The prices of all essential commodities are sky rocketing and what the government is giving us is just peanuts,” she said.

Maya Devi, another mid-day meal worker, further added that they had been time and again asking the government to regularise their jobs and also increase their salary but to no avail.

“There are days when my husband, who is a daily wager, is out of work, and we have to sleep without food. Our salaries should be increased so that we are able to meet both ends meet,” said she.