The All Jaintia Mid Day Meal Workers Union (AJMDMWU) has served the state government a deadline of April 30 to fulfill their various demands.
These include the enhancement of their honorarium from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 5,000 per month, to be paid over the entire 12 months of a year and not only 10 months, to provide LPG facilities for cooking the midday meal and to assist the children of the workers who do well in various examinations.
The meeting was attended by around 1,000 workers, 97 percent of whom were women, some who travelled from far-flung places like Psiar, Mochrot and Maitden.
Speaking to Highland Post, adviser of the union, Khroo L Pariat said that the organisation has sent several memorandums to the Chief Minister and reminder letters from 2019 until December 2021 but to no avail.
The midday meal scheme workers have not even received their Rs 1,000 stipend for the past five months. “As as per reports of the Public Accounts Board, the Indian government has released all the funds but the money is yet to be transferred to date to the accounts of more than 14,000 midday meal workers,” Pariat said. Currently, the Centre pays 90 percent of the costs of the scheme, with the state responsible for the other 10 percent.
“The state government needs to clarify where the five months’ wages of the workers have been diverted since they have mouths to feed and fees to pay,” Pariat said, adding that there is meant to be a contingency fund of Rs 10 crore for the scheme to be used if the Centre delays paying its share of the costs.
He informed that they have also decided to write to the Prime Minister’s office via the Meghalaya Governor on the matter.
Earlier at the meeting, Dayoo Iakai, president of the All Jaintia Muster Roll Workers Labour Union, said, “All we are asking for is the enhancement of honorarium to Rs 5,000 a month for the workers and if the government remains adamant to this demand then we will also refrain from taking part in the 2023 election.”
