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Dhamtari, 20 September (HS). Chhattisgarh Mid Day Meal Workers Unity Union CITU held a Dharna for the second day over 11 point demands. The cooks and helpers involved in the Dharna organized on 20 September alleged that the state government has money to distribute for free under the Mahtari Vandan Yojana and it does not have budget for the working cooks and helpers, this is a matter of concern. If they do not get their honorarium on time, then the crowd of women involved in the Dharna has warned to intensify the agitation.
On the second day, 250 to 300 female cooks from across the district attended the protest organized at Gandhi Maidan. Here, the women protesting vented their anger against the state government one by one for not receiving their honorarium. After this, the female cooks took out a rally from Gandhi Maidan and reached the Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) office via Itwari Bazaar and Nagar Nigam. Here, a memorandum in the name of the Chief Minister was handed over to the Additional Tehsildar Akhilesh Deshlahare with 11 point demands.
At Gandhi Maidan Dhamtari, the cooks raised slogans against the BJP government of the state. The women have also demanded that the cooks be removed from the School Development Committee and placed under the Block Education Officer. CITU patron Sameer Qureshi said that there are 1447 primary and secondary schools in all the four blocks of the district in which 2608 cooks are working. In one school, one cook is working for 25 children. Whereas, one cook and one helper are working for 26 to 100 children. In this regard, four cooks should work for 100 children. The cooks have not received their honorarium for three months. Due to this, they are facing financial crisis. All the women are financially weak. We will wait for the honorarium for ten days. If the honorarium is not received by 30 September, we will start an indefinite agitation. We will hold an extended meeting in the first week of October and formulate further strategy.
Cook assistants Anusuiya Kandra, Radha Dilli, Lalita Sahu, Ukeshwari Sahu, Devbati Devangan and Shanta Yadav said that they have not received their honorarium for three months. Due to this, they are suffering financially and mentally. They did not get money on important festivals like Rakhi and Teej. Widow pension was Rs. 1000. Rs. 500 has been cut from that and Rs. 1000 is being given by adding it to Mahtari Vandan Yojana. At the same time, according to the election promise, there should be a 50 percent increase in the salary. Salary should be given at collector rate. Cook assistants who have been working for 20-30 years should be given pension. Layoffs of cook assistants should be stopped. Cook assistants who were fired from Baliara, Devpur, Kanya School Dhamtari, Badi Kareli, Peeparchhedi and other schools should be taken back immediately. During the demonstration a large number of cooks including Ahalya Dhruv, Mahesh Nirmalkar, Sita Sahu, Balaram Markam, Jayshree Goswami, Dihu Ram Yadav were present.