Reactingon the protests of midday meal workers against the NGOs, Assam EducationMinister Siddhartha Bhattacharyya said that the protest is baseless.

The minister said that the workers association has taken the path of protests based on some rumours adding that a sum of organizations have used the midday meal workers for political purposes.

The education minister criticized the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) for provoking the workers association. He said that earlier, the cook used to prepare the food and also distributed the foods but now they will only distribute. "The workers should be happy that their work has been reduced but still they are getting the same payment. They are not employees, they are volunteers," said Bhattacharyya.