Garhshankar, July 30 - As per the call by the Mid-day Meal Workers Union Punjab to send a protest letter to the Education Minister Punjab for their demands, the mid-day meal workers of Tehsil Garhshankar under the banner of Mid-day Meal Workers Union Garhshankar sent their protest letter to the Education Minister Punjab through Mr. Manjit Singh Junior Assistant in the absence of SDM Garhshankar.
While informing the press at this time, Mid-Day Meal Workers Union leaders Kamla Devi, Pinki Rasoolpur, Baljit Kaur Dhamai, Suman Bharowal and DMF leaders Satpal Kaler, Mandeep Singh Rattu and Hansraj Garhshankar said that the mid-day meal workers working in schools of Punjab on meager allowances have not been paid their due wages for the last two months under the pretext of opening accounts in Canara Bank.
Mid-day meal workers are being forced to open accounts in Canara Bank by issuing a decree, which is not possible because the number of Canara Banks in villages and towns is negligible. Forcing mid-day meal workers to open accounts 20-25 km away from their schools is to further increase the exploitation of the already exploited workers.
Mid-day meal leaders demanded that the due wages of the last two months be released soon, mid-day meal workers be brought under the minimum wage law, the Tughlaq decree on opening accounts in Canara Bank be withdrawn and accounts should be opened in nearby banks, free insurance of at least five lakhs should be provided to mid-day meal workers by the Punjab government at government expense.
In case of accident of workers, the entire medical expenses should be borne by the government and in case of loss of life, all facilities like regular employees should be provided, two uniforms should be provided in a year according to the season, the honorarium given to mid-day meal and sanitation workers should be doubled to Rs 6000 per month by the Aam Aadmi Party as per its election guarantee and the sanitation workers who were laid off due to the number of children in schools falling below 100 should be immediately reinstated.
At this time, mid-day meal workers of various schools Raj Rani, Inderjit Kaur Dhamai, Shashi Bala Simbli Santosh Kumari and Suman Bharowal, Manjit Kaur, Hardeep Kaur and Rani Chak Phulu, Raj Rani Monowal, Renu, Rajwinder Kaur Parowal, Ranjit Kaur and Jaswinder Kaur Panam, besides DTF District President Sukhdev Dansiwal and State Joint Secretary Mukesh Kumar, 4161 Master Cadre Union State leaders Balkar Singh Maghania and Sandeep Singh Gill were also present.