Chhattisgarh school cooks protesting ₹66 wage, booked for rioting
What's the story
In Chhattisgarh, around 500-600 cooks under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-Poshan) scheme have been booked for "rioting." The cooks, who work on school midday meals, had blocked a road in New Raipur demanding a wage hike from ₹66 to at least ₹261, The Indian Express reported. The protest was led by the Chhattisgarh School Madhyanbhojan Rasoiya Sanyukta Sangh.
Wage dispute
Cooks settled for ₹261 daily wage
The cooks had initially demanded a daily wage of ₹440 but later settled for ₹261, the same amount paid to MGNREGA workers. However, their demand was rejected by the government. "We told them many times to vacate the arterial road to New Raipur," a police officer from Abhanpur police station was quoted as saying, adding that no arrests were made despite an FIR being registered under sections 126(2) and 191(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Protest response
Cooks association slams government
Ramraj Kashyap, president of the cooks' association, defended their actions, saying they didn't damage any public property. "It's true we blocked the road. But we did not do any rioting," he said. Meghraj Baghel, secretary of the association, slammed the government for not understanding their situation and not matching inflation rates over the years. "Why can't they understand our situation? We work for four to five hours, and ₹66 is very little," he said.