Police thwart mid-day meal workers’ protest

Vijayawada: Hundreds of mid-day meal workers who came to city   as part of `Chalo Vijayawada’ programme opposing the policies of the state government were detained and sent to various police stations under the police Commissionerate limits on Monday.

Nearly 3000 workers from various parts of the state came to Vijayawada railway station by trains to take part in the programmedemanding the government to pay monthly salary of Rs.5000 and cancel the proposals for privatisation of mid-day meals in the state. Mild tension prevailed when police forcibly arrested them and shifted them to police stations.

The state government has taken up steps to privatise the mid-day meals programme and divided the state into 71 clusters to sanction the work. 
As part of the scheme, over 85,000 workers, mostly cooks and helpers, are eking livelihood by cooking food in the government and aided schools.

Now, the government is contemplating to sack these workers and handover the work to private agencies. To oppose, the move, nearly 3000 mid-day meals workers came to Vijayawada to conduct a meeting and discuss their problems.

However, dozens of police with vans and other vehicles were deployed near the railway station since morning. They asked the workers to stay inside the Railway stadium so that the officials would come and discuss with them. The workers went into the stadium.

Around 11 p.m. the city police have arrested them in dozens of vehicles and shifted to various police stations in Unguturu, Gannavaram, Ibrahimpatnam, Vuyyur, Thotlavallur and other stations.

Unaware of the police action, hundreds of elderly women workers suffered hardships till 4 p.m. at the police stations. Many illiterate women who came from other districts faced inconveniences as they did not know the routes in Vijayawada. 

The mid-day meal workers condemned the detentions and shifting to the police stations. CITU State general secretary M A Gafoor, mid-day meals Krishna district union secretary N C Supraja and others condemned the arrests. They have demanded that the state government immediately withdraw the decision of privatisation of mid-day meals programme in the state and opposed the division of work into 71 clusters.