Gadchiroli May 6 (District Correspondent) A meeting of the Anganwadi cooks working under Amrut Ahar Yojna was held held at Kurkheda under the chairmanship of Mr. Krishna Chaudhari, President of the Anganwadi Cooks Union the other day. It was demanded in the meeting that their honorarium should be increased to Rs 20,000 per month and the arrears of the past six months be released soon.
The hundreds of women cook recently staged dharna agitation at Azad Maidan in Mumbai for raising the demand. But still their honorarium has not been increased. They have been facing severe financial hardships due to meagre wages and non-payment of the honorarium for the last over six months.
Due to the negligent attitude of the Gram Sevaks working at the Gram Panchayat level in many talukas of the district, the honorarium of many cooks has not been paid for the past six months to one year. However, the government and the district administration are not taking any notice of this, it was alleged in the meeting.
The arrears of the cooks should be paid immediately, otherwise they will launch intensive agitation, it was warned in the meeting. It was also demanded that the government facilities, paid leave and weekly leave should be granted to the cooks. The honorarium of each month should be deposited directly into the bank account of the cooks, it was further demanded.
The Amrit Aahar Yojna came into effect in 2016, the cooks have been appointed and even after ten years, the government and administration are not paying serious attention to this. Therefore, the concerned departments should pay serious attention, it was demanded.
Besides Mr. Krishna Chaudhari, Ms. Ganga Tulavi, Pushpa Pada, Gauri Kovachi, Anju Gedam, Nagu Bai Pradhan, Pushpa Pradhan, Vandana Raut, Chandrakala Meshram, Shakuntala Ghughuskar, Jai Mala Ghodam Sita Dhurve Sarita Gawde and many other cooks attended the meeting.
