Solid waste management (SWM) drivers and helpers in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and other districts held a protest at Freedom Park on Monday under the aegis of the BBMP Pourakarmika Sangha.
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The protesters announced that if Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai does not declare end to the contract system and bring all workers under direct payment, workers will march to Vidhana Soudha. For the last few months, the sangha has been urging the State government to abolish the contract system and demanding that drivers, loaders and cleaners of garbage collection vehicles be brought under the direct payment system and be made permanent, as assured by the Chief Minister.
“We demand that the contract system be abolished and the workers be brought under the direct payment system and be made permanent. After great struggles, pourakarmikas who are sweeping the streets have been brought under the system of direct payment under the BBMP. However, drivers, helpers, loaders and cleaners, who are also pourakarmikas who collect, transport and dispose of garbage, are employed under a sham contract system,” Nirmala, a member of the pourakarmikara sangha, said.
After a strike in July 2022, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai gave a written assurance that all pourakarmikas would be made permanent and the drivers, loaders, and cleaners under contract will be brought under direct payment system, and thereafter made permanent. The State government had also formed a committee of government officials and representatives of workers, including the AICCTU.