Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 10: Midday meal cooks working under the School Education Department (SED) today staged a protest, accusing the Government of ignoring their long-pending demands, including the implementation of minimum wages and a regularisation policy.
The protesters, under the banner of the All Daily Wagers J&K Sangharsh Samiti, said they were being paid a paltry honorarium despite working for decades and performing essential duties in Government schools.
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Most of the protesters were women.
They had planned to gherao the Chief Minister’s residence at Gupkar Road but were stopped and later staged their protest at Sonwar.
The protesters alleged that the authorities had repeatedly failed to address their grievances despite numerous appeals and demonstrations.
Anarkali, a cook from south Kashmir who has been working for the past 30 years, said she receives only Rs 900 per month.
“I get a meagre amount despite working for three decades. I am handicapped, yet I work efficiently. We are treated unfairly and denied justice,” she said.
Another protester, Iffat from the Achabal zone, expressed resentment over what she described as the Government’s indifference towards poor workers.
“The Chief Minister moves in air-conditioned cars but does not look at the poor,” she said, adding that political leaders approach them only during elections.
Nazir Ahmad Malik of the All Daily Wagers J&K Sangharsh Samiti said that repeated protests and appeals to the Government had yielded no concrete results.
“We have only been given assurances. Women are on the streets demanding their rights, when the Government promotes ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’. We demand justice, implementation of minimum wages, and regularisation of services,” he said.
He further demanded that salaries be released every month and that workers be treated at par with regular Government employees.
He alleged that workers are often made to wait for months, and sometimes even years, for the release of their wages, adding that successive Governments had failed to fulfil their promises.
The Samiti said that besides midday meal cooks, other workers — including CPWs, landowners, ASHA workers, malis, chowkidars, and employees from various departments across Kashmir — were also facing similar issues that required urgent redressal.
They demanded immediate implementation of minimum wages, formulation of a comprehensive regularisation policy, and resolution of long-pending issues of employees across departments.
The Samiti warned that the agitation would be intensified if their demands were not met.
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