Mid-day meal workers from Jaintia Hills have threatened to stage a protest near the Additional Secretariat in Shillong on March 21 to demand for immediate clearance of their long pending dues.
Informing this today, All Jaiñtia Mid-Day Meal Workers Union (AJMMWU) adviser Khroo L. Pariat said that mid-day meal workers were promised an honorarium of Rs 1000 per month.
However, according to him, the honorarium has not been paid for five months. The honorarium was not paid for the period from July to November 2021 and February 2022.
“The workers are finding it hard to make their ends meet, including meeting other needs like children’s school fees, school uniforms, books and others,” Pariat said.
He also said that mid-day meal workers have to work from 8 am to 5 pm to cook and arrange foods for school children besides cleaning of utensils.
“If we calculate the honorarium given to them it comes to just Rs 30 per day,” Pariat said, adding that it was paid only for ten months.
He also said that AJMMWU had written to Additional Chief Secretary (Education) Donald P. Wahlang on December 15, 2021 demanding increase of the honorarium from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 and also that it should be paid for twelve months instead of ten months as it was today.
Meanwhile, AJMMWU president Jerry Suting has today urged the State government to address the problems faced by the mid-day meal workers with regard to pending dues and also to enhance the amount so as to enable them to perform their duty efficiently.
