Pourakarmikas stage protest for permanent jobs & wage payments

BENGALURU: Hundreds of pourakarmikas, mostly women, staged protest at Freedom Park on Thursday morning, seeking permanent jobs and payment of wages. All of them carried brooms in their hands.Out of 30,000 pourakarmikas under the BBMP, only 4,000 have permanent jobs, with the rest working on contractual basis. Certain benefits are available only to

The contractual workers reportedly have no holidays on weekends and national holidays, and aren’t even provided any safety equipment.The pourakarmikas said that the state government had earlier promised to make all of them permanent.

Most of them haven’t received payment for three months now, they alleged. Narayan, Chairman of the Karnataka State Commission Safai Karamchari, expressed solidarity with them when he addressed the gathering.

The pourakarmikas said they would intensify their protests if the demands weren’t met and gave the government 15 days to take some decisions. Bengaluru Development and Town Planning Minister K J George, who visited Freedom Park during the protest, said that the representatives would be consulted through meetings to consider the demands, but added that 15 days weren’t enough for the same. He added that a biometric system would be set up for identification of government-employed pourakarmikas in near future.