Urban Development Minister Vinaykumar Sorake has convened a high-level meeting along with Municipal Administration and Minority Affairs Minister Qamarul Islam, Minister of State for Labour Parameshwar Naik and senior officials of the department on January 21 in Bengaluru to discuss the demands made by pourakarmikas, working as daily wagers in Kalaburagi City Corporation, for regularisation of their services and release of the payment due to them for the past 4 years..
President of the KPRS and senior CPI(M) leader Maruti Manpade told The Hindu in Kalaburagi on Saturday that the meeting is likely to discuss the issue of regularising the services of pourakarmikas working in other city corporations and the demand for ending the outsourcing of their jobs. Earlier in the day, leaders of different political parties and social organisations, under the leadership of Mr. Manpade, took out a massive procession from Sardar Vallabhai Patel Chowk to Jagat Circle and staged a rasta roko for more than 30 minutes. They protested against the police lathicharge against pourakarmikas who were staging a dharna outside the Corporation on Thursday.
Mr. Manpade and other leaders said that the lathicharge on the pourakarmikas who were protesting with the body of Ningamma — who allegedly died of starvation — was not only inhuman but also a violation of human rights. They said that Ningamma had died due to starvation after being denied the salary for four years by the City Corporation. They demanded the government to order a judicial probe into the alleged starvation death of Ningamma and the lathicharge on the pourakarmikas. Besides regularising the services of the pourakarmikas, the government should also release the pending wages. Mr. Manpade and others submitted a detailed memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
