Midday meal workers in schools under the auspices of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) staged a protest in front of the office of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat here on Tuesday urging the government to hike their monthly pay.
It was part of the State-wide protest called by Karnataka Rajya Aksharadasoha Noukarara Sangha affiliated to the CITU.
In a memorandum to the chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat, president of Dakshina Kannada unit of the sangha Padmavathi Shetty said that the Union government had promised that it would hike the monthly pay to mid-day meal workers by Rs. 1,000. The State had assured a hike of Rs. 500 per month from December 2013. Both the governments had not fulfilled the promises, they said.
Currently, the head cook gets Rs. 1,100 and the assistant Rs. 1,000 per month. The association demanded job security for the workers.
They demanded that the government should not hand over the entire mid-day meal scheme to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and ISKCON should not be allotted any government land for the purpose.
