Hundreds of pourakarmikas (sanitation workers) on Tuesday gathered in protest at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) headquarters against the Palike’s decision to regularise only 4,000 posts while 18,000 pourakarmikas have been working in the city for a considerable amount of time.
The demand for regularisation is longstanding and the state government under former CM Siddaramaiah had promised to regularise all the pourakarmikas by March 2017, by which they would have been assured of minimum facilities like one weekly leave.
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Moreover, the protesters under the aegis of BBMP Pourakarmikara Sangha (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) stated that the application process and norms as per the new notification are more exclusionary in nature than favouring those who are already toiling for decades to keep the city clean. One of the opposed criteria is an age limit of 45 years when many of these 18,000 workers are already two decades into the job. The new process also calls for applicants to submit multiple documents.
Rima, a pourakarmika who works in Kadugondanahalli, said, “We don't even know how to read or write, I didn't even go to school. I just punch in punch out and do my job. Now I'm asked to be fluent in reading and writing.”
She added, “I am not receiving my PF. I'm being asked for a school certificate which I don't have. I don't even have a birth certificate since I didn't get one, now they're asking me to show it.”
Shanti, another pourakarmika who has been working in the city for 23 years, said, “I'm working for all these years but my biometric fingerprint hasn’t been registered with the BBMP, my file is not with them. I have applied for it with everyone but due to some technical error they haven't added me yet. Whenever I go in and complain, they procrastinate and push me away.”
She added, “I have approached many officers over a period of 14 months but none are giving a response. I have suffered a lot because of this. I have no official identity here despite working for decades. It feels unfair that I'm being cast out. They're pulling our legs by sending us here and there, even my supervisor doesn't care.”
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Currently, these workers are being paid by the BBMP directly as opposed to by their contractors, after years of struggle against a system which has regularly exploited the workers by denying them their rightful wages.
While they are promised a minimum salary of around Rs 15,000, they get around Rs 12,000 on average after deductions for insurance and provident fund. In contrast, regular pourakarmikas are promised a salary between Rs 17,000-28,900.
Lekha Adavi, lawyer-activist who took part in the protests, said, “The application process itself is online. Most of the workers are not comfortable in using online forms even though they may use WhatsApp or other apps. There is an online payment that one has to make to apply for the job, which is equally ridiculous to ask. Moreover, they have demanded that the applicants need to know how to read and write Kannada. While speaking in Kannada is requisite, the problem is the majority of workers have not been to schools.”
She added, “The demand for extra documents like experience certificates again from these workers does not make sense as the BBMP already has their biometrics and PF numbers.”
The workers called off the protests after the BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar and Special Commissioner D Randeep said they would stall the hiring process and make it more accessible. They also promised to take up the matter of regularising the existing workers.
(Inputs from Soumya Chatterjee)