For the past five months, Shanthamma (name changed), a pourakarmika from Dharmaraya Swamy Temple ward, has not been able to buy milk for her three children aged between five and 10 years. The single mother has also not been able to pay their school fees.
There are hundreds of pourakarmikas, like Shanthamma, who are struggling to make ends meet as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is yet to disburse their salaries since January this year. Fed up of the ‘empty promises’, the pourakarmikas from Dharmaraya Swamy Temple ward have struck work for the past two days. The 2,000-odd workers have not been inducted into the direct payment system.
“We are tired of the assurances. The BBMP only extracts work from us. We are unable to pay rent, buy groceries. Our children are not being let into schools, as we haven't paid fees for the previous academic year. Their admissions for the coming academic year have been put on hold,” said Indirani, another pourakarmika.
Venkatesh M. from the Dalit Bahujan Movement – Karnataka told The Hindu that he had written to the BBMP in April raising several issues, specifically allotment of personnel in areas with large footfalls and floating population, such as K.R. Market, Kalasipalya, S.P. Road and OTC Road. “The BBMP has around 2,500 pourakarmikas, who are permanent employees, and around 15,000, who were earlier under the contract system. The pourakarmikas on the rolls often don't report for work,” he said.
He also claimed that, as per rules, the BBMP is obligated to ensure that salaries are disbursed within the 7th of every month, regular master health checkups are held every three months, apart from a weekly off. “However, the BBMP follows these rules more in violation,” he alleged.
Maithreyi Krishnan from the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha said that non-payment of salaries was because of the ‘on-going effort to break down the system of direct payment of salaries by contractors and officials with vested interests’. “The pourakarmikas have not been given their ESI or PF numbers. We have been asking the BBMP to initiate criminal action against contractors for withholding the information, besides blacklisting them,” she said.
BBMP's Joint Commissioner (Health and Solid Waste Management) Sarfaraz Khan admitted to some problems with regard to payment of salaries after the civic body introduced the biometric attendance system and direct payment. “The problem is more in the core areas. Around 2,000 pourakarmikas are yet to get their salaries. We are in talks with the association to sort out the issue,” he said and added that salaries have been disbursed to those who have submitted details of ESI and PF.
He also said that these issues would be raised during a review of solid waste management with the BBMP Commissioner soon.
Differences over ratio of workers to population
After the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) decided to directly disburse salaries to the bank accounts of pourakarmikas, it also fixed the ratio of civic workers to the population at 1:700. This limited the number of pourakarmikas to around 18,000, as opposed to nearly 30,000 under the the contractors.
However, various unions working with the pourakarmikas are demanding that the ratio be reduced to 1:500, on the lines of the recommendations of the IPD Salappa report of 1976. This would mean an increase of the total number of pourakarmikas to around 25,000.
“The per capita waste generation has quadrupled since 1975-76. However, the BBMP fixed the ratio at 1:700 without consulting the union or civic workers. We have been demanding reduction in the ratio,” said Maithreyi Krishnan from the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha.
BBMP's Joint Commissioner (Health and Solid Waste Management) Sarfaraz Khan said that the proposal to reduce the ratio has been sent to the government. “The new government will have to take a call on it,” he said.
