BENGALURU: Despite several appeals and protests since December 2022, midday meal (Bisi Oota) workers in Karnataka still have long-pending demands. On Monday, the workers declared an indefinite strike in the state and staged a protest at Freedom Park under the aegis of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Due to the protest, the supply of midday meals to school students was affected in Koppal and Kolar districts.
Around 1,19,000 midday workers serve over 55,80,000 students regularly. Organising the strike district-wise, over 450 workers from Koppal and Kolar were in the city registering their protests due to which no midday meals were served in schools in the districts. The organisation said on Tuesday, workers from Bagalkot will protest and no food will be served in schools in the district.
Speaking to TNIE, S Varalakshmi, state president, Akshara Dasoha Naukarara Sanga, said, “Until Diwali, workers from each district will come and protest at Freedom Park. If the government still does not fulfil our demands, the entire state’s midday meal workers will stop their work post the festival.”
She added that so far, all their protests and strikes have fallen on deaf ears. “The government wants to send only junior officers to hear our problems, but nothing materialises post those discussions,” she said. Other demands include a pension of Rs 1 lakh to those who were laid off post reaching 60 years of age, a compensation of Rs 25 lakh in case of death at the workplace and the proposed hike in salary under the new budget should be implemented from January 2023 and be duly compensated in their latest salaries.
The protestors also said the government should recognise workers under the 45th and 46th Indian Labour Laws till the scheme is established and also that cooks be appointed as ‘Group D’ workers in schools.