Mid-day meal workers in Haryana not paid for several months

Murti Devi, 44, a mid-day meal worker at Gurugram’s Sehjawas village, has not been paid honorarium for the past six months pushing her family of four, including her physically challenged husband, to a hand-to-mouth existence.

And she is not alone. More than 29,000 mid-day meal workers, mostly poor widows, have not been paid their honorarium for past several months. “The duration of pending honorarium varies. In some cases, the workers have not been paid for even ten months,” claimed Ms. Devi, district president, Mid-day Meal Workers Union, Haryana, which is affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

Ms. Devi, working as a mid-day meal worker since 2010, said the delayed payment was a rule and not an exception. “In 2021, honorarium for ten months was released after the workers went on a strike. The things improved slightly last year with a delay of two-three months, but again it has been six months now,” she said.

“The government officials in the Education Department told us that the budget was not released for honorarium leading to the delay,” she said.

Hundreds of mid-day workers in Nuh had also held a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office on April 13 against the delay in payment of honorarium.

Haryana CITU general-secretary, Jai Bhagwan, said the State government had last year doubled the honorarium of mid-day workers to ₹7,000 per month, but the payment has not been made since November.

“The workers are not being heard despite repeated demand letters and protests for the past six months. The government’s attitude towards the mid-day workers is shameful. Most of these workers are Scheduled Caste poor widows without any other means of income,” said Mr. Jai Bhagwan. “We also brought the matter to the notice of Education Minister Kanwar Pal, but there has been no action so far.”