As many as 111 pourakarmikas, who were engaged in door-to-door waste collection and other tasks for the last five and more years, received orders appointing them as permanent workers of Mangaluru City Corporation here on Saturday.
The orders were as per a notification by the State government in 2017 by which local municipal bodies are allowed to directly appoint 50% of sanctioned posts of pourakarmikas.
As per this notification, the city corporation called for applications for 190 posts of pourakarmikas in September 2021. Following scrutiny of the applications in April this year, appointment orders were issued to 111 pourakarmikas.
District in-charge Minister V. Sunil Kumar formally handed over the appointment orders in a function held at the corporation here on Saturday. Mayor Premanand Shetty, Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath and Member of Legislative Council Manjunath Bhandary were present.
All the 111 pourakarmikas, who received the appointment orders, have been working with Anthony Waste Handling Cell Limited, which had been entrusted with house-to-house waste collection by the corporation.
With 111 new employees, the corporation now has a total of 297 permanent pourakarmikas on its rolls.
Among those who received the appointment orders on Saturday include Shivaram, a resident of Surathkal, who has been for the last 12 years cutting weeds by the roadside. “I worked tirelessly all these years with a hope to becoming a permanent employee and it has been realised now. As a permanent employee now, my salary has increased to ₹26,000 per month,” he said and added that he will now get his salary regularly every month.
Shanta and Renawwa, who were engaged in door-to-door waste collection for the last eight years, were also happy to have received their appointment orders. “I don’t know the advantage, but being a government employee means a lot,” said Renawwa, a mother of five children hailing from Bagalkot district and a resident of Baikampady here.
Mr. Kumar also presented to each one of the 15 pourakarmikas title deeds of residential flats allotted to them in the newly built quarters at Mahakalipadpu.
Addressing pourakarmikas, Mr. Kumar said that by issuing the appointment orders, the State government has realised the long-pending demand of the pourakarmikas. The corporation will provide all necessary facilities to pourakarmikas who have been tirelessly working in collection and disposal of domestic waste, he said.
