bangalore puttarajamma cooks food for hundreds of schoolchildren every day but she sleeps on an empty stomach many days as the paltry sum she earns is not enough to make ends meet in a family of four including two children her fate is shared by hundreds of cooks who work for the midday meal scheme across the state many rue that the payment is not enough to feed their own children puttarajamma from bijwara village of madhugiri taluk tumkur says despite these problems she continues to work for a meagre salary of rs 1000 if i quit who will prepare food for the schoolchildren it is hard to find cooks to work for rs 1000 per month when a labourer earns rs 6000 demanding that the government increase their salary puttarajamma and over 2000 midday meal cooks from across the state have been protesting indefinitely at freedom park since december 2 puttarajamma says her school does not have drinking water facility and she walks a kilometre several times a day to bring water from a borewell fighting back her tears she says my husband a labourer earns rs 2500 per month how can we look after our children with this its worse for shanthamma name changed a cook from kanakagiri of gangavati taluk koppal who is the sole breadwinner of her family her husband passed away few years ago and she has to take care of three children shanthamma says i dont even have a proper house as a part of my house collapsed a few months ago im begging the government to increase our salary to rs 7000 she says adding my 17yearold son dropped out of college to work as a construction laboureron a forced fast neelambari a cook from koppal district who has come with her threeyearold daughter is going without food at the protest site not because she is on hunger strike but because she has run out the jowar rotis she brought from home i dont even have money to get milk for my baby she says like neelambari many other cooks are protesting without food as they dont have money to buy it five protesters have already collapsed at the venue due to starvation and giddiness numbers say it all mahadevamma t state vicepresident of midday meals workers association said since 2009 salary of head cooks is rs 1100 and assistant cooks rs 1000 at present the government is paying rs 38 per day we want it hiked to rs 174 per day as per supreme court directive she added kannada and culture minister umashree has promised to look into the matter but mahadevamma says if the government doesnt act by december 7 they will launch an indefinite hunger strikescheme stats midday meal programme launched in 200102 in the state 118 lakh midday meal cooks work in 56080 aided and govt schools in state meal served to 6724 lakh children 46414 kitchen centres in the state