Publish Date: | Mon, 07 Mar 2022 02:08 AM (IST)
Ambagarh Chowki(Naiduniya News). The cooks preparing mid-day meals in government schools run by the state government will now be paid Rs 306 as daily wages as per the prescribed wages. That is, now the cooks will get a wage of Rs 9180 in a month. A total of 23 cooks of Tribal Zone Ambagarh Chowki, Mohla and Manpur had filed a petition in the High Court that they were not getting salary according to their work. The High Court has issued a historic order on this matter, in which the High Court has issued an order to increase the salary of the cooks. After this order, there is a wave of happiness among the cooks of Vananchal. Describing the decision of the High Court as historic, the cook said that he has got justice after a long struggle of three years. This decision is going to change the life of his family and secure the future.
Two dozen cooks working in mid-meal in government primary and pre-secondary schools of Mohla, Manpur and Ambagarh outpost blocks of the district, under the guidance of former district panchayat member Khagesh Thakur, the tribal leader of the district, on the basis of payment of goods for the same work. The High Court had filed 23 petitions in Bilaspur. Senior and learned advocate of the High Court, Neelkanth Malviya, was appearing on behalf of the kitchens on these petitions made in the year 2019.
The petition demanded the court to pay equal wages for equal work. In the hearing on February 25 in the High Court, it was agreed that the salary paid to cooks is much less than other states of India. The High Court, citing the decision of the Supreme Court, while accepting the basis of payment of equal work pay, said Sanjay K. of High Court Bilaspur. Agarwal’s bench ordered that the Chhattisgarh government should pay the remuneration to the cooks on the basis of their minimum wages.
Welcoming the decision of the High Court, Khagesh Thakur, a former member of the District Panchayat, said that truth has won here. We were continuously fighting for the last eight years on every platform to get the right and justice to the cooks. Be aware that at present, the cooks preparing mid-day meals get honorarium of only twelve hundred and fifteen hundred rupees.
The cooks had filed 23 petitions
Gayatribai, Nirmalabai, Mintabai, Mehroombi, Sangeetabai, Santram, Siruram, Sultanabai, Americabai, Roopkunwar, Jhamitbai, Jantribai, cooks preparing mid-day meals in schools of Mohla, Manpur and Ambagarh outposts on the basis of equal work, equal payment Sohagabai, Jankibai, Chandrabai, Annaubai, Dwarkabai, Radhabai, Niranjan Lal, Sitabai, Neelkunvarbai, Rahimatbai, Dharmobai under the guidance of former member of district panchayat, Khagesh Thakur, filed 23 separate writ petitions in the High Court.
The cooks told that they had been raising their demands before the government and administration under the leadership of Khagesh Thakur to protect their rights for the last one decade. But due to lack of justice here, he had approached the High Court for the last fight. Welcoming the decision of the High Court, these cooks said that now change and happiness is about to come in our lives.
The cooks of southern states get more salary
Cooks and assistants working in mid-day mills in the southern states of India, especially Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry, get salary in three grades. In this sequence, monthly salary of Rs 21000, 12000 and 9000 thousand is received. Established by cooks in High Court Bilaspur.
In the petition, the court found that Chhattisgarh is far ahead in paying salaries to the mid-meal cooks in the southern states as compared to Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Government should give minimum wages to cooks in Chhattisgarh, tribal leader Khagesh Thakur, former member of District Panchayat, has demanded from Bhupesh Government of Chhag that respecting the decision of Supreme Court and order of High Court Bilaspur, the government works in mid-meal throughout the state. Pay the minimum wage rate salary to the cooks who do it. He said that the Congress government should ensure such a system in the entire state even before the assembly elections, that the cooks working in the mid-day meal are paid the same salary as in the southern states.
We have not yet received the order of the High Court from the School Education Department regarding the cooks working in the mid-day meal. Nor has any such order come from the administration. I will be able to say something in this matter only after getting any kind of order in writing. -SK Fishman, BEO
Posted By: Nai Dunia News Network