BENGALURU: A strike by Pourakarmikas in Mysuru — once hailed as the cleanest city in India — resulted in heaps of garbage strewn all over the city for almost a week. Bengaluru could also face the same fate as most promises made by the government have not yet been fulfilled.
The workers still suffer from the same issues of pending salaries, delayed payments and loss of jobs. Just a few days ago, workers from KR Market protested at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) head office over non-payment of wages.
Nirmala M, secretary of the BBMP Guttige Powrakarmikara Sangha (affiliated to AICCTU), claimed almost three-fourths of all workers are not getting their salaries on time.
Gangamma, a pourakarmika from Ramamurthy Nagar, said several workers from her ward had not received full payments, and no one knew why.
Almost all of these issues were highlighted during earlier protests, but none of them have been resolved, and the workers are getting restless. “We are planning a big protest because if we only carry out small-scale protests then, as always, officials will give assurances and then forget it,” she said.
According to a BBMP Assistant Executive Engineer, the issues with salary persist due to confusion among the officials.
The official said a micro-plan stipulating requirement of workers was prepared during the end of 2016, but later it did not get the government’s approval. “This confusion led to the loss of jobs and payments for many workers, and even now the department itself is not sure of which plan to follow,” the official said.
The official attributed it to the delays by private contractors employed to distribute the items.