Guwahati: The All Assam Primary School Midday Meal Cooks and Helpers' Association on Thursday demanded a salary hike from Rs 1,000 to Rs 9,600 and setting up of a midday meal management committee.

The midday meal workers were appointed by the state government in 2004 after launching of the scheme to provide freshly cooked meal to primary students of the state-run schools, but no salary was fixed and they had to file a writ petition in Gauhati High Court.

The high court ordered the then Tarun Gogoi government to pay Rs 1,000 from December 2009 as remuneration, the organisation said.

State secretary of the association Jahanara Begum said: "From the outset we have been working with utmost sincerity. Our members did everything - cleaning schools, fetching water, cooking midday meals and distributing it among students. After intervention of the high court, we are getting a paltry amount of Rs 1,000. We demanded a raise, but to no avail. It is not possible to survive with this amount any more. Now we demand Rs 9,600 as salary; otherwise we will intensify our protest."

The organisation also expressed resentment at the government's move to terminate services of cooks and helpers who have worked for 10 to 12 years. Primary schools are often shut down for lack of students and the teachers are often transferred. But the midday meal workers are dismissed from service instead of being transferred.

The association demanded that the management of the scheme be handed over to a central committee.

Other members of the association alleged that the scheme in Jalukbari had been handed over to Akshaya Patra, an NGO, at the behest of a powerful minister.