BANGALORE: The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has postponed the issue of applications for hiring pourakarmikas to Thursday.
On Wednesday, thousands of aspirants thronged the BBMP head office from 6 am giving officials a tough time. Failing to control the crowd, the civic body was forced to stop issuing applications.
BBMP had recently issued a notification that applications for pourakarmika posts will be issued at Dr Rajkumar Glass House at its head office from Wednesday.
A senior official said: “The heavy rush was because aspirants felt that applications will get over on the first day. We have printed 50,000 applications and people should not fear that these will get over. We will issue applications till July 27.”
Sub-inspector D C Manju of Halasooru Gate police station told Express that more than 2,000 people came for the applications.
However, BBMP had not made adequate arrangements to manage the crowd. With no barricades in place, the mob even got on the stage, he said.
Inspector Ravi Patil said BBMP authorities have now requested them to make security arrangements.
“Around 50 policemen would be deputed to the head office to control the crowd. They will be there till the last day,” he said.
‘We Will Approach the Court’
The Palike, which issued the notification three years after the government approved the recruitments, might face some hurdles.
President of BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Association S Balan said they will approach the court against the notification.
According to the BBMP notification, the age limit of the applicant should be less than 35 years. But most of the existing contract pourakarmikas working with the BBMP for the past two decades have crossed 40-50 years, making them ineligible, he said.
Balan further said most of the contract pourakarmikas are SC/STs.
The notification states that only 22 per cent pourkarmikas should be recruited from SC/STs. This means that out of 4,000, only 660 posts will go to them. This reduces the chances of recruitment of eligible contract pourakarmikas.
Balan said the State Advisory Contract Labour Board (SACLB) in 2013 constituted a sub-committee chaired by him to look into the abolition of the contract labour system in BBMP sanitation works.
The report was submitted in March, 2014, and it is pending before the Labour Minister. So how can the government direct the BBMP to recruit pourakarmikas? he asked.
“This is illegal. We will meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on July 16 and later move the court,” he said.
50 pc Staff Should be on BBMP Rolls
According to N S Ramakanth, BBMP’s Solid Waste Management Expert Committee member, the corporation should have at least 50 per cent pourakarmikas on its rolls to function smoothly. There are 18,000 contract pourakarmikas and around 3,000 BBMP pourakarmikas. Another 4,000 pourakarmikas will help the Palike to tackle the garbage contract mafia, he said.