JOIN USCome afternoon, Matarmala Kunwar ensures that students of the primary school in Bajarkona village in Bihar’s Kaimur district are fed adequately.
But the widow cook do not get her measly Rs 1,000 per month wages on time, as a result of which she could not ensure a decent square meal for her own household.
Cooks like Matarmala, drafted in to cook for school children for ten months under the mid-day meal scheme, have to wait six months and even a year for their monthly salaries and not without paying a commission for a nexus of politicians and headmasters. When 800 of them knocked on the doors of the Modi Sarkar in Delhi, they were left with severe injuries as police lathi-charged the cooks who had been agitating here since November 10, demanding increments and timely salary payments. “I cooked puri and halwa for politicians when they visited our village for votes during the elections. I came here, hoping that Modi bhaiya (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) will listen to our problems. But, see what have I got? Who will take care of my three young children?” a sobbing Matarmala said, rubbing her broken ribs.
Another cook, Shanti Devi, said she got only half of her salary in February this year after cooking meal at a primary school in Pashahra village of Buxar district in Bihar for more than 10 months in 2013.
“At least, I am able to feed my children, who study in the same school, and myself,” she said. The cooks allege that village heads and headmasters take advantage of the annual renewal of their appointments and “exploit” them.