Bengaluru wet waste collectors allege BBMP hasn’t cleared dues for 6 months

The contractors say they have exhausted their savings in a bid to pay the workers’ salaries and bear other expenses.
Wet waste collection
Wet waste collection

Bengaluru’s New Thippasandara is seeing a strike by the wet waste collectors over non-payment of six months’ worth of dues from the civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). TNM has learnt that the non-payment is a persisting issue in various wards across Bengaluru, but the contractors are not going on strike for it would mean further burden for them and inconvenience the citizens. Mounting bills and EMIs, deadlines for tax payments, salaries of the workers and other expenses are looming large over these contractors as they struggle to make ends meet.

“We care about our workers the most but because of the non-payment of dues from the BBMP, we have been struggling to pay them their salaries. Our daily expense of just diesel has gone over Rs 15,000 since the increase in the price of the fuels. The maintenance of the vehicles has also become increasingly difficult for us,” said a supervisor who works for Balakrishna, the contractor for Ward No. 58. He told TNM that they had to pawn their gold, take more loans to pay the workers for these many months and have exhausted all the means.

Hired by the civic body, the contractors are private entities who undertake collection of waste across the city who have a team of workers including vehicle drivers and also a supervisor to oversee the work of waste collectors.

Another contractor, Balasubramaniam, who oversees the collection of wet waste of four wards of the city—Jeevanabima Nagar, Jogupalya, Domlur and Konena Agrahara— said that they have not been paid since July, 2020.

“Visiting the officials is futile, they always have the same answer that they don’t have funds. They say that they will think about the payment after the tax collection due in March. They don’t pay heed to our problems at all,” alleged Balasubramaniam.

When questioned if the 136 workers under him have also gone on a strike, he said, “We already don’t have any money, if we go on strike, the troubles will escalate; it will also inconvenience the citizens. If a day’s garbage is not collected, it will cause stagnation and processing will take a longer time. We have to pay for the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund (PF) by the second week of March as per Central Government rules or we will have to face their wrath too. We can only wait.”

Balakrishna’s supervisor further added that when he met with the officials at BBMP, they assured them that the payment will be done by next week. 

When TNM contacted Chief Engineer of Solid Waste Management, Vishawanath, he acknowledged the issue, and said that a resolution is underway. "Many contractors have not generated bills and submitted; some have not furnished all details like ESI and PF which is why issue is persisting. We did call for meetings which were presided by senior officials. The issue will be resolved in three-four days," he said.

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