Mid-day meal workers have threatened to stop work and protest with their children over delay in payment of the wages.
The Union of Cook cum Helpers, PM POSHAN Meghalaya said dues for the month of July-September were left unpaid. At a press conference, the leaders said the state government should release the pending dues before October 20.
The union said that delay in payment of honorarium has affected the mental health of thousands of cooks cum helpers in the State. They said if this persists, they will intensify their agitation and take along with their children from November.
The union further urged the government to look into their pending demand to provide LPG cylinders to every school under PM Poshan where the workers usually have to cook with firewood.
“For the betterment of our health, our Mother Earth and our family LPG should be provided at the earliest in all the school kitchens,” the union said.
The union also wants the government to enhance the corpus fund from Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore to pay the honorarium if there is any delay to release the instalment from the centre and to make payments for the month of November before Christmas, so that they can also pay for school uniforms and books of their children for the next session, like other government employees.