Mid-day meal workers and employees on Sunday staged a protest near the office of finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal demanding hike in salary and regularisation of services.
The protesters alleged that mid-day meal workers are being paltry ₹1,700 per month while employees working in offices under the scheme have been demanding regularisation since long. Protesters gathered outside the district administrative complex and held a protest march, which was stopped by police near the office of the finance minister.
Union leader Lakhwinder Kaur said other states are paying much higher to mid-day meal workers, but the Punjab government hasn’t increased the salary despite since long. She said the finance department is not clearing the file regarding paying ₹2,500 per month to mid-day meal cooks. She said the salary is paid to workers for just 10 months.
She demanded that workers be paid for 12 months on minimum wages of ₹9,556 per month. She said that the employees working in offices under the scheme fulfil all the criteria for getting regularised but Punjab government hasn’t done that.