Hundreds of pourakarmikas staged a protest against the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday, stating that benefits and facilities continue to elude them.
The pourakarmikas, under the aegis of the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha, affiliated to the All India Central Council of Trade Unions, reiterated their earlier demands of payment of wages regularly, issue wage slips, provide a weekly off and other holidays, provide toilets, pushcarts, brooms and safety equipment.
Despite assurances by the BBMP Commissioner and the then mayor earlier that no worker would be retrenched, pourakarmikas in several wards were denied employment and not paid wages for six months, they said.
The Sangha also raised the issue of arbitrary retrenchment of several pourakarmikas on grounds that they were above the age of 60.
Maitreyi Krishnan, general secretary, AICCTU, said, “Several workers are being dismissed due to their age. They have worked for several years under the contract system. If they are not provided monetary benefits at the time of retirement, they will be rendered homeless.”
Demanding abolition of the contract system, Clifton D'Rozario, secretary of CPI(ML), said, “The drivers, helpers and other workers must also be regularised and added on the BBMP's rolls.”
BBMP's Joint Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Sarfaraz Khan gave them a hearing and admitted that despite abolition of the contract system, there were still some problems. He assured the pourakarmikas that pending wages would be disbursed next week and that salaries would be regularly released before the 7th of every month. About weekly off and holidays, he said the commissioner had already issued a circular mandating the same and admitted that this was not complied with at the zonal level.
He also said that the BBMP would initiate disciplinary action against supervisors who force pourakarmikas to do loading and unloading work in addition to sweeping. Steps are also being taken to provide rest rooms and toilets, apart from setting up drinking water facilities at the mustering points, he said.