Cook assistants in Tamil Nadu upset over fixed pay move, seek its rollback

Tamil Nadu Nutritious Meal Employees’ Association too criticised the decision, terming it “equivalent to bonded labour”.
The state government plans to hire cook assistants for Rs 3,000 per month
The state government plans to hire cook assistants for Rs 3,000 per month File photo
Updated on
2 min read

DINDIGUL: The state government’s move to appoint cook assistants on a consolidated pay of Rs 3,000 per month under the noon meal scheme has cooked up a storm with new recruits and employees’ associations. According to them, it won’t serve them well, and the “decision should be rolled back”.

They claimed the G.O. 95 issued on December 16, 2024, for recruiting 8,997 cook assistants under the Sathunavu Scheme is based on consolidated pay with no increment, which is “unfair and unwarranted”.

According to reliable sources, 42,697 job positions have been allocated for cooking event organisers (Sathunavu Amaipalar), currently 23,364 positions are filled; 42,996 positions have been allocated for cooks, currently 33,001 positions are filled. In the case of cook assistants, 43,006 jobs have been allocated, but 24,145 positions are vacant.

A cook assistant (44) told TNIE, “I am a widow from Vanniyar community. My income is just over Rs 6,000 per month. I work in private companies as a daily wager on weekend also. When I am struggling to make both ends meet, one can imagine what would be the condition of new recruits.”

Tamil Nadu Sathunavu Thitta Uriyar Sangam (Dindigul) secretary R Jessi said, “A woman cook assistant appointed in 2017 currently gets a salary of Rs 6,186 per month. The current G.O. is unfair and should be withdrawn.”

Echoing a similar view, Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Union (Dindigul) president Mubarak Ali said the decision was uncalled for.

However, an official from Dindigul district administration said, “This is a G.O, which could be reviewed. We have received petitions seeking wage augmentation and increasing present pay scale of both cooks and cook assistants.”

A Radha (39), a cook assistant from Sivaganga, said the ruling party, as part of election promise, had assured to convert the Sathunavu Amaipalar, cooks and cook assistants from special time scale category to time scale pay category, wherein the benefits are more. But the government has come out with this decision, which won’t augur well for new recruits.

Tamil Nadu Nutritious Meal Employees’ Association too criticised the decision, terming it “equivalent to bonded labour”. Its state treasurer MR Thilagavathi said, “We plan to hold protests to push for abolishing the consolidated pay recruitment.”

M Innasi Muthu, former district president of Tamil Nadu Noon Meal Workers’ Union, Coimbatore, said, “It’s an attempt to destroy the noon meal scheme implemented by former chief minister MGR, and provide more importance to the CM breakfast scheme.”

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com