Home Minister K J George asked the BBMP to discontinue the services of old contractors working with its Solid Waste Management Department.
Speaking at the Pourakarmika Day programme on Thursday, George said in his Constituency (Sarvajnanagar), four wards were managed by old garbage contractors. “These wards are not maintained properly by the old contractors. They don’t have sufficient men, machinery, and vehicles.”
“Even the pourakarmikas are not paid their salaries on time. The High Court is also pointing out these issues,” George said.
He said it is better to have BBMP’s pourakarmikas, instead of employing those working for contractors.
“If we have at least 50 per cent of pourakarmikas, we can ensure that contractors do not blackmail the civic agency,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, KPCC President G Parameshwara said there are around 8,000 pourakarmikas’ posts vacant, of which the government had given its consent to recruit 4,000 pourakarmikas. “The recruitment process should be transparent,” Parameshwara said. He said at present, in many places, some third persons were working in the place of recruited pourakarmikas.
This is because the recruited pourakarmikas have sub-leased their work to some other people and they were involved in some other business, he remarked.
District In-charge Minister R Ramalinga Reddy said not all pourakarmikas are not working. “We shall frame some norms to recruit pourakarmikas,” he said.
He added that there is a provision to construct houses for the urban poor under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) and also under the 22.75 per cent scheme.