BENGALURU: The story of 40-year-old S Subramani is the story of pourakarmikas across the 8 zones of BBMP city. Some have been paid for just 1 month this year, some for two months and some for 3 months.
Workers are on the brink today. They are being thrown out of their houses for not having paid rent. Money lenders are torturing them, households are struggling to make ends meet, there is little food to go around and children are being forced to drop out of school. Meanwhile, BBMP is misinforming the public stating that salaries have been paid.
The brave workers exposed the exploitative and corrupt contract system of solid-waste management, which benefited a cartel of contractors in collusion with officials. This compelled the Government of Karnataka to decide to make direct payment of wages to pourakarmikas and regularise all of them last year. While this was implemented across the State, there was an inordinate delay from BBMP’s side. The delay was due to the unholy alliance between the contractors, corporators, elected representatives and the Corporation officials.
Even the current crisis, where wages have not been paid for months, is solely because of this unholy nexus between BBMP officials and the contractors who are trying every trick to defeat the “direct payment” model thereby re-opening the door for the contractors. The cartel succeeded in creating a divide among the sweepers and those working in autos and compactors. While direct payment applies to the sweepers, the contract system continues in the latter. These workers are not paid minimum wages by the contractors and are forced to work without wages for months on end.
The BBMP Council, recently, betrayed all these workmen by passing a unanimous resolution to float tenders for solid waste management in the city. From the refusal to pay minimum wages, to the siphoning off wages in the name of “bogus” workers, theft of ESI and PF contributions, ghost workers and vehicles, the pilferage by the contractors is being encouraged.
BBMP is unable to implement its own circulars -- providing 1 day weekly off a week for workers, toilets, drinking water and basic cleaning equipment or protective gear. All Bangloreans must step up and put pressure on BBMP to ensure that these workers, who toil for all of us, are paid on time and provided basic facilities at work.