The State government will set up a pourakarmika welfare board by pooling resources, Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karmacharis president Narayana said in Bidar on Wednesday.
After a meeting to review the functioning of Safai Karmacharis in the district, he told presspersons that the Centre had promised to set aside funds for the board. However, the modalities are yet to be worked out.
According to him Karnataka ranked fourth in the country in employing pourakarmikas. A study conducted a few years ago estimated their number at around 15,000. The State government will take up a re-survey of these labourers by involving NGOs. Work on it will start in November.
He said that the practice of hiring pourakarmikas through outsourcing agencies would be gradually stopped. Urban local bodies would directly appoint them, albeit on contract basis. “The State government has accepted our suggestion to pay Rs. 16,000 per month to these workers,” he said. This includes risk allowance and healthcare allowance. This is to help them escape from the clutches of exploitative middlemen. The ULBs will deduct provident fund and employee state insurance amounts from the funds to be paid to outsourcing agencies retrospectively from April this year.
Mr. Narayana asked the Deputy Commissioner, Anurag Tewari, to provide housing for the pourakarmikas. The State government will release money if the district administration provides land, he said.
