VIJAYAWADA: Mid-day meal workers, including those in government and Anganwadi schools across the State are going on strike on Tuesday demanding hike in tariff for each meal they supply to students and their salary. In view of the strike, the Commissionerate of School Education instructed all the District Education Officers to rope in volunteers or make alternative arrangements to ensure that mid-day meal supply to students was not disrupted on Tuesday. They are also demanding payment of long-pending dues and shelve any plan to privatise the mid-day meal programme.
In a letter to the government on Monday, they opposed the proposal to privatise the programme by setting up ‘community advanced kitchens’, contending that the move would render thousands of workers jobless.
K Swaroopa Rani, mid-day meal workers’ union leader, said that the government should provide job security to them. “We want the government to release immediately the last year dues. The prices of all items like cooking oil, vegetables, etc., have gone up steeply and workers are finding hard to prepare meals at `5-7 per student. We want the government to hike it to at least `10 per student.”
Speaking to Express, T Lakshmi, head cook at Karnati Rammohan Rao Municipal High School, said, “We have been regularly requesting the government to pay extra charges when the prices are on higher side. Even though the government has not reacted positively, we are not compromising on quality and quantity. We are making do with cheaper vegetables.
It would be easy on us if the government takes it upon itself the responsibility of supplying eggs which cost us `4 each. It’s unviable to supply eggs to students along with the meals which itself costs `5,” she added.The State government reimburses workers `5.13 for each meal supplied to students in primary schools and `7.18 for high school students. Every year, the government is supposed to hike the charges by 7 per cent.