Services of 12,692 pourakarmikas in Bengaluru to be regularised from May 1
Nagalakshmi, 38, has been working as a pourakarmika, sweeping the city's streets for nearly 20 years now. She started under the contractors and was paid a meagre sum of ₹1,000 a month for the back-breaking work. She is one of the 12,692 pourakarmikas whose services will be regularised by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on May 1.
'Working under the contractors was a very bad phase. Not only was the pay less, but there was also harassment we had to brave. We found relief in 2016 when we were brought under the Direct Payment System (DPS). We presently get around ₹18,000 take-home salary apart from several other benefits. Now, with our services being regularised, our salaries are expected to almost double. Naturally, we are overjoyed and we feel our work is finally being recognised,' she said.
Depending on seniority and pay scale, pourakarmikas will get salaries on par with other D group employees of the civic body. Considering the 7th pay commission, on an average, they are expected to get around ₹35,000, a senior BBMP officer said.
Currently, there are 15,400 pourakarmikas being paid through DPS. Of them, only 12,692 are being regularised, keeping 2,708 still under DPS. BBMP has adopted a criteria that the services of those who have worked for at least two years under DPS and are below the age of 55 years will be regularised. Most of those left out are above 55 years of age, sources said.
'Regularising the services of these pourakarmikas has been our long-standing demand, and we also urge that the services of other pourakarmikas who have been working on DPS mode in other corporations across the State should also be regularised,' said Maitreyi Krishnan of BBMP Pourakarmikara Sangha.
Long struggle
This is a result of a long fight that started in 2013, said Clifton D'Rosario of BBMP Pourakarmikara Sangha. 'Following recommendations of the Chandrashekhar Committee Report formed in 2013 and our struggle demanding its implementation in full, the then Congress government made a Cabinet decision to regularise services of all pourakarmikas in 2016. That decision is being partly implemented now,' he said.
Both sweepers and waste collectors were working under contractors till 2016, amidst allegations of double billing and misappropriation of funds. BBMP introduced biometric authentication of all pourakarmikas, which brought down the numbers from the claim of 32,000 to around 18,000. Contrary to the cabinet decision, these sweepers were brought under a DPS and given minimum wages, a hardship allowance, and other facilities like EPF, gratuity and health insurance.
'As we continued the struggle for regularisation of their services, and to bring waste collectors also on the rolls, the BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai formed a committee under (IAS officer) Rakesh Singh to formulate modalities to regularise their services. Even as that committee did not submit its report, the government announced regularising services of only 4000 odd workers, which was vehemently opposed. Siddaramaiah, who was leader of opposition, assured us that if Congress came to power, they would regularise the services of all pourakarmikas. So after Congress returned to power we restarted our struggle to reach some success now,' Mr. D'Rosario recounted.
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