Badal writes to centre for enhancing salary of mid-day meal workers to Rs.3500 per month- Sharma

Chandigarh December 2, 2014: Taking strong exception to the malicious propaganda by the leaders of the various mid-day meal workers unions, the president of All India Mid-Day Meal Worker Union Sukhdev Ram Sharma Gholia today said that these leaders instead of spear heading a sincere campaign to safeguard their interests were rather creating utter confusion just for the sake of their vested interests.
Disclosing this here today, Sharma said that the leaders of INTUC and DEF were directly holding Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal responsible for not enhancing their salaries on one hand and on the other they were demanding to hike the salaries of mid day meal workers to Rs.2500 per month.  He apprised that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had already taken up this issue with the Union Human Resources Minister Samriti Irani through writing a letter to enhance the salary of these workers by demanding Rs.3500 per month.  Badal also mentioned that the state government was ready to contribute state’s share of Rs.850 PM per worker.  
Sukhdev Ram Sharma further said that his organisation had been constantly struggling to protect the rights of the mid day workers and thus convinced Badal to take up this issue with Irani.  Sharma also informed that he has impressed upon the Chief Ministers of various other states to take up the similar issue with the GoI for enhancing their salaries to Rs.3500 per month on the pattern of Punjab and majority of the Chief Ministers have responded positively on this issue.  
Launching a frontal attack on the leaders of different associations of mid day meal workers for not raising this issue with Centre at the time when their own UPA government was in power.  He dared them to come clean on this issue that why they didn’t raise the issue of enhancing their salaries as well as getting their services regularized during the decade long tenure of UPA government?   He further said that these frustrated leaders were now indulging in baseless criticism of Punjab government and Modi government at Centre for their political ends.  Sharma also appealed to enhance the existing salaries of these mid day meal workers from Rs.1000 to 2000 per month besides giving them salary for 12 months instead of 10 as of now as per the proposal already mooted by him, which was now with the PMO.  He said this proposal has already been forwarded to the PMO by the Ministry of Human Resources, Govt. of India after according its due clearance.  This decision would result in giving instant relief to 30 lakh odd mid day meal workers, of which nearly 10 lakh were widows across the country.  He also appealed to the Prime Minister to increase the salary of these workers to Rs.3500 per month in the light of Punjab Chief Minister’s proposal so that a major relief could be extended to nearly 1.25 crore family members of these workers.   
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