With garbage strewn around the city, it becomes the responsibility of pourakarmikas to clean up the city. While issues like diseases, delayed pay, etc. have troubled the community, there is one woman for whom this job came as a life saviour.
35-year-old Bhagyamma’s life changed when she got a job as a pourakarmikas five years back. Whatever little she earned by sweeping in houses in Kashi Nagar, her husband took it away to drink alcohol. Left alone to take care of three grown up daughters, Bhagyannma had reached a dead end. There was another shock in store for her. Her husband got cancer and died soon after. It became impossible for her to even provide two square meals a day to her children let alone education.
“That is when I went to the local contractor and requested for a pourakarmika job,” she recalls. After that there was no looking back. She asked for help and help came. Residents came forward and gave her money for her children. “All other problems of collecting garbage seem small to me now. I am so happy that I got this job, thanks to the corporator, my children will now get good education,” she said.
She added that people have been so cooperative and help segregate the waste.
Residents of Yelachahalli give her money outside her salary on a monthly basis to help her with financial issues.