The mid-day meal (MDM) workers have threatened to take out a rally to protest the State Government’s negligence towards their long standing demands on Friday.
More than 5,000 MDM workers will participate in the rally that would start from Master Canteen.
The rally will be organised by the Orissa Mid-day Meal Workers Union (OMMWU).
Currently, there are about 1.4 lakh MDM workers across the State. OMMWU president Radha Raman Sarangi said the mid-day meal workers are designated as cook-cum-helper volunteers. Instead of a regular salary, they are provided honorarium.
One of their major demands is that the volunteers should be provided regular salary. Besides, they have demanded a hike in their current monthly reimbursement which is `1000.
Members of the union have also demanded that they should be treated as regular employees of the State Government.
In the interior pockets of the State like Koraput and Malkangiri, where infrastructure development is minimal, mid-day meal workers have to collect water from far off places besides cooking meal and serving the students, said Sarangi. It is getting difficult for the workers to sustain with such a meagre salary, he added.
The members of the union have also demanded social security like insurance, provident fund and maternity benefits.