5,300 auto tippers, 700 garbage trucks to go off roads in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: Around 5,300 auto tippers and 700 garbage trucks will be off roads from Wednesday evening as cleaners and drivers launch an indefinite strike against the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Solid Waste Management wing, demanding the regularisation of their services.
Hundreds of protestors gathered at the BBMP head office to voice their concern. Anticipating a volatile situation, the police took them into preventive custody but released them later in the evening.
The protestors urged that the IPD Salappa report be implemented, and the service of drivers who dispose of solid waste be made permanent.
The president of Karmikara Samrakshane Organisation Thyagraj, who is spearheading the movement, stated that over 500 members had assembled at the BBMP office on Wednesday. However, the police denied them entry and took them into preventive custody.
“Our demand is genuine. Cleaners and drivers have been neglected by the BBMP. They should be employed under the ‘direct payment’ scheme, instead of being hired through contractors. “The protest turnout was small on the first day. But from Thursday onwards, thousands of them will join and halt vehicle operations,” he said.
He also warned that the impact of the strike would be felt from Thursday, as garbage collection would come to a standstill.
Expressing solidarity with the protestors, activist Kathyayini Chamraj, Executive Trustee, CIVIC who had raised the deplorable conditions of pourakarmikas and gangmen in the past and pressed for welfare measures said, “BBMP should employ these workers directly rather than relying on the contract system. If the protest continues for three days, garbage will pile up across the city,” she said.