BENGALURU: Even though the state government regularised the services of around 12,650 Pourakarmikas (PKs) last year, some of them have alleged that contractors are harassing them to pay Rs 30,000 as “regularisation charges”. Those who refuse to pay are being verbally attacked, burdened with more work and deliberately marked absent from work, they said.
It was revealed by Pourakarmikas working in Bengaluru South City Corporation’s wards, including Girinagar, Hanumanthnagar and Srinagar, requesting that their identities are not to be revealed to avoid further harassment.
“On International Labour Day last year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah declared that he is providing permanent employment to the contract workers through a special direct recruitment process. However, the contractors are demanding a minimum of Rs 30,000 from us, saying that they were the ones who pressurised the government to take the decision,” said a Pourakarmika.
“Those Pourakarmikas who are in favour of the contractors are let free without any work, and the same work is dumped on others who oppose them. To avoid getting caught, contractors have asked one Pourakarmika to collect the money and hand it over to them discreetly,” a worker said.
Not stopping there, they complained that they are also being asked to pay Rs 1,000 from their salaries to the contractors every month without fail. “When we were working on a contract basis earlier, they forcefully collected Rs 600 from us. Now, after we are made permanent, we have to pay them Rs 1,000,” another Pourakarmika said.
“Our work starts at 6.30 am and gets over by 2.15 pm, with leaves sanctioned only during emergencies. Those who are opposed to paying Rs 30,000 and Rs 1,000 monthly ‘hafta’ are put to work beyond the work hours and are deliberately deployed at locations where the garbage accumulation is more. “We, too, have families to run. Like everyone, we too have to pay our house rent, pay school fees for our children and take care of our expenses,” they said.
Another sanitary worker said, “The problem of contractors demanding Rs 30,000 for regularising and Rs 1,000 ‘hafta’ is across the city. After toiling every day cleaning up the city, the situation is that we can’t take home our hard-earned money.”
Pourakarmikas said that in order to cover up the extortion, contractors were forcing them to give video declarations that no one was demanding money. They urged the government to conduct an inquiry and take action against the errant contractors.
A top Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) official said that after the regularisation, the Pourakarmikas are directly under the payroll of respective city corporations.
TNIE tried to get a reaction from Bengaluru South City Corporation Commissioner KN Ramesh and Greater Bengaluru Authority Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao, but neither of them responded.