BENGALURU: Around 70-80 pourakarmikas from BBMP protested in front of the Koramangala police station over non-payment of wages. The workers met the BBMP engineer concerned and since they did not get any response they went to the police station to file a complaint.
“Non payment of wages for four to five months amounts to forced labour. The police summoned the engineer who agreed to look into the issue. If the wages aren’t paid, then we will file the complaint. There are several workers in Ejipura and Koramangala who haven’t been paid. There have been protests in Mahadevapura and Indiranagar too,” said Maitreyi Krishnan, member, BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha.
“Some payments have been made. There is a lobby to break the system of direct payment. What we had been told originally is that the ESI and PF numbers had not been given. Why is it that the contractor has not given the numbers? Why doesn’t the BBMP take action against these errant contractors?” she asked.
BBMP Commissioner Maheshwar Rao said, “We have released the payment of all workers. It will be based on verification that they have worked. There are 16,000 workers legally registered with us. There are 1,500 people claiming that they have not been paid. We are only asking for proof that they have worked. After justification of records, payments will be made ... money is available.”
“Contractors cannot give manufactured documents of ESI and PF. We are making payments to the individual accounts of the workers not the contractors. We are taking biometrics of all those who are registered and their payments are being done. Those people who have not given sufficient records, their issues are being looked into. Ghost data is our biggest worry ... biometric system is in place, and there will be timely payment of salaries in the first week of every month,” he said.