BENGALURU: A delegation of pourakarmikas met BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar on Friday, demanding protective equipment and hygiene measures as they are at higher risk of contracting Covid-19. This comes a day after a 25-year-old pourakarmika succumbed to Covid after being denied medical care. She is the fifth sanitation worker to die of the disease. Pourakarmikas staged protests in several parts of the city on Friday.

They were joined by citizen groups in holding candle light vigils near their homes that evening. Anil Kumar said the BBMP was formulating measures to protect the health of sanitation workers. These include checking workers’ temperature at mustering centres or before they board the bus that would take them to their designated work areas. BBMP will create Covid centres for pourakarmikas if they contract the disease. They will also be included under a Central scheme under which families of frontline workers who succumb to Covid-19 are given Rs 50 lakh as compensation.