Comrade Saroj Chaubey, General Secretary of the Bihar State School Rasoiya Sangh, and Ranvijay Kumar, Secretary of AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) lambasted the Bihar government for its failure to ensure timely payment of wages to school Rasoiya [cooks]. Despite an official directive stating that salaries and wages for state workers should be disbursed before the Diwali and Chhath Puja holidays, approximately 240,000 school cooks – primarily from marginalised Dalit and backward communities – remain unpaid for the last two months. These cooks work in government schools, earning merely Rs. 1,650 per month.
They also condemned the government’s justification that payment delays were due to a lack of funds from the central government, arguing that this excuse does not absolve the state of its responsibility. “The government, which is an ally of the BJP government in centre, must answer for how it can inflict such injustice on school cooks, who are the backbone of the Midday Meal Scheme,” the leaders said.
They criticised the announcement of a cooking competition for school cooks as a superficial exercise, calling it a “sham” that distracts from the real issue of wages. “Instead of offering training or holding competitions, the government should focus on increasing the Rasoiya’s wages to a respectable level and ensuring timely payments,” Comrade Saroj Chaubey added.
Accusing the ‘double-engine’ Nitish-BJP government of prioritising advertising and bureaucratic paperwork over genuine governance, AICCTU leaders said that decisions and directives are frequently overridden by the whims of senior officials.
AICCTU has called for the immediate payment of September and October’s overdue wages.
