BENGALURU: Forty-year-old Uma is a mother of four and provides for her own mother too. She lost her husband to alcoholism a few years back. Her married life started with her journey as a pourakarmika when she joined the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) as a young 18-year-old teenaged sweeper.
Her 22-year-stint with the Palike has been so disappointing that once she even considered suicide, tired of the delayed payments, lack of job security and health risks, especially after the passing of her husband, when the weight of providing for six with the Palike’s 12,000 per month fell on her shoulders.
She works in Indiranagar ward where the work load is high owing to the high density of residents, and pubs and restaurants. “There are trees lining the main roads and the bylanes. Even if we don’t sweep for a day, fallen leaves pile up and we have to keep the area clean even when we are short-staffed, sick, have a day off or are unpaid.”
Recently, the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis had asked the State government to implement the IPD Salappa report that has fixed the ratio of pourakarmika to population at 1:500. Out of around 42,000 pourakarmikas in Karnataka, 32,000 are contract workers. The government is appointing 11,000 permanent pourakarmikas, so out of the 31,000 who will remain, 8,000 are expected to be sent back. Currently, Karnataka has one pourakarmika for 700 persons.
The 1:700 is fixed irrespective of the ward population. This translates to higher workload on pourakarmikas in commercial areas. “During monsoon, the slush, the stench and the leeches are unbearable. We sweep with the same brooms that we purchase. We wear the same slippers. There are no gum boots like one would imagine we are given,” she says. Her hectic day begins at 4 am. After preparing breakfast for her family, she leaves her slum by 5.45 am. A 20-minutes walk leads her to Indiranagar 100 feet Road where she starts sweeping from the CMH Park to Chinmaya Mission Hospital. Though she has young children going to Nursery and Class I, she doesn’t see them off to school.
“At 10 am, we have to give biometric attendance otherwise we will not get wages. So, my mother sees them off. If I haven’t prepared anything to eat, they have to eat at school,” she says. “If anything happens to that trolley, we have to pay for its repair,” she says, pointing to the carrier on wheels provided by the Palike to collect garbage swept off of the roads. Cooking gas costs `800, electricity bills run up to `500, water costs `200, cable TV costs `300, ration costs `1,200, and children’s uniform and books cost `500, she says.
“I had to spend `8,000 for a uterus problem. It causes severe stomach pain but I have to manage it with medicines, because if they remove my uterus I cannot do hard labour,” she says. Uma stays with other pourakarmikas in Indira Arjuna Seva Sangha slum of around 2,000 residents. Their demand to increase the worker strength from 17 workers – 10 on contract and seven workers who are permanent – to more goes unheard. suraksha@newindianexpress.com
Bengaluru has about 20,000 unhappy sweepers, who survive untold hardships. They are denied their salaries and access to basic facilities such as clean toilets and healthcare. They are vulnerable to sexual harassment and are exposed to illnesses on every work day. Through it all, their employer – the BBMP – remains infuriatingly indifferent. TNIE, in a six-part series, tells life stories of these pourakarmikas.