10,000 pourakarmikas to be regularised in three months, says CM Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced that 10,000 contract pourakarmikas will be regularised in the next three months and their wages will be paid directly by municipal corporations.

The announcement comes following protests by thousands of pourakarmikas across the state, demanding regularisation of jobs which the government promised last year. They had also demanded direct payments, based on a model followed in Haryana. The Chief Minister said the regularisation of rest of the pourakarmikas will be done later.

State government expert committee member, solid waste management, N S Ramakanth welcomed the move. He said this would help put an end to the contractor mafia, which was exploiting the pourakarmikas. Balan S, president of BBMP Contract Pourakarmikas Association, said though the move was a step ahead, not all their demands were met.

He said, “A government order has to be issued for this so it will take some time to implement. The CM said they will regularise the rest in a phased manner, but didn’t specify when. And the workers need to be made permanent and their pay should be on par with employees who are currently permanent.”

Balan added that the pay received by permanent workers here was highest in the country and the government should set a precedent by making all of them permanent.