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Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, October 19
Nearly 44,000 midday meal workers of government schools across the state are up in arms against the Education Department’s decision to ask them to clean the utensils used by students after the latter have taken their food.
All these workers belong to the below poverty line (BPL) class. With the state government refusing to increase their honorarium from Rs 1,700 to Rs 3,000 per month citing financial crunch, these workers have urged the department to revoke the decision.
“Can one sustain herself and her family on a monthly wage of Rs 1,700? To complicate matters, this honorarium is paid for just 10 months a year whereas teachers, who too work for the same period, are paid for 12 months. This is grave injustice,” said a livid Lakhwinder Kaur, president of the Punjab Midday Meal Workers’ Association.
Workers say earlier they used to clean only those utensils in which meals were cooked and the students cleaned their utensils. “We are willing to do this but please increase our wages to a decent level. The Education Secretary should urge the Finance Department to clear our file which will ensure we get at least Rs 3,000 per month. We fail to understand why the Finance Department is not giving consent when it can sanction money to fund the CM’s many advisers and OSDs. You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Maintaining double standards is grossly unfair,” said Mamta Sharma, general secretary of the association.
Sources say the file to increase wages is gathering dust in the Finance Department for the last four months. “Education Secretary Krishan Kumar has already given his consent. It now awaits the nod of the finance ministry,” said an official. “Officials deliver lengthy lectures on women empowerment. But the problem is that this so called empowerment vanishes into thin air when it comes to enhancing the financial status of midday meal workers,” averred Jasbir Kaur of the Istri Jagriti Manch (Punjab).
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