Shimla, June 22 -- Mid-day meal workers across Himachal Pradesh observed a statewide strike on Monday and staged a massive protest in Shimla, demanding higher honorarium, implementation of a 12-month salary system, pension and gratuity benefits, social security coverage, and a policy for regularisation.

Under the banner of the CITU-affiliated Mid-Day Meal Workers Union, hundreds of women workers from different districts of the state gathered in the capital and marched in a protest rally from Talland to the State Secretariat. The demonstrators raised slogans against both the Central and State governments, accusing them of ignoring their long-pending demands.

According to union leaders, between 500 and 700 women workers from across Himach...