Mid-day meal workers await pending salaries in Karimnagar

Mid-day meal workers in Karimnagar are facing financial hardship due to delay in salary payments by the state government. While the Centre has cleared its share, the state’s contribution and pending egg bills remain unpaid for several months

Karimnagar: Members of mid-day meal agencies are facing difficulties due to a delay in the release of their salaries by the state government. Though the central government recently cleared pending salaries of mid-day meal workers, the state government is not responding to the issue. A salary of Rs 3,000 is being paid to each mid-day meal worker every month. While the Centre is paying Rs 1,000, the remaining Rs 2,000 is being provided by the state government.

The union government recently cleared salaries pending up to December 2025. However, the amount to be paid by the state government has been pending for the last seven months. Besides salaries, bills for eggs served to Class 9 and 10 students are also pending.

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Eggs are supposed to be served to students three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the meantime, a hike in the price of eggs has also become another burden for the agencies. The government is providing Rs 6 per egg. However, each egg in the market costs Rs 7 to Rs 8. Though the price of eggs has increased in the market, the government has not enhanced the rate, forcing the agencies to bear the excess amount.

As a result, a majority of the agencies have stopped serving eggs to students due to financial burden. Instead of eggs, bananas are being served by a few agencies. Speaking to Telangana Today, Mid-Day Meal Workers’ Association district president Burra Manjula said that despite several representations, the salaries and pending egg bills were not released by the government.

Stating that mid-day meal agency workers are serving meals to students by mortgaging their gold ornaments, she urged the government to release salaries as well as egg bills at the earliest.