BENGALURU: The state government is all set to provide free meals, flats and better clothes for all the pourakarmikas. Keeping the next Assembly elections in mind, Chief Minister Siddaramiah announced various schemes for pourakarmikas here on Tuesday after launching a mid-day meal scheme for the civic workers.
With this, 32,000 pourakarmikas will get rice, sambar, butter milk every day. International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISCON) has been awarded the task of supplying food to over 600 mustering centres and it will be given from 10.30 am to 11 am every day.
A road map has been designed, accordingly the food truck will move to distribute the packets to pourakarmikas. BBMP will be spending `20 per person a day. Pourakarmikas in other districts too will get breakfast.
Praising the pourakarmikas’ effort to keep the city clean, Siddaramaiah said the state government is also planning to give BDA flats to pourakarmikas. Each flat costs `11 lakh, of which `9.5 lakh will be from the State and Central government funds. “Only `1.5 lakh will have to be paid by the pourakarmikas’ in instalments,’’ he said.
He said contract pourakarmikas were getting around D7,000 per month and the state government has increased their salary by `5,000. With this, each one of them will be getting at least `12,000. “Do not waste excess money by drinking alcohol. Save money, give your children good education. Make them doctors, scientists and encourage them to enter politics. They need not have to become another pourakarmika,’’ he said.
Bengaluru Development Minister K J George stressed that pourakarmikas should be given good uniforms, better safety equipment, gloves and other essential materials.