Pourakarmikas press for various demands, stage protest

The sanitation workers on Monday staged a protest demanding the BBMP to streamline payment services and various other benefits.

Under the banner of the Karnataka Rajya Nagarapalike, Nagarasabhe, Purasabhegala Pourakarmikara Mahasangha (KRNNPPM), more than a thousand pourakarmikas took part in the protest held at Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s head office.

The workers forward a list of demands to the authorities.

“The direct cash transfer (DCT) system should be implemented for all the sanitation workers. The biometric system has become a pain for the workers as they cannot always rush to the offices to mark their attendance during work. H D Kumaraswamy, in his manifesto, had promised to revoke the bio-metric attendance for the pourakarmikas. We demand the system be abolished and register-based attendance system is brought back,” the workers demanded.

Narayana (Mysuru), the state president of the organisation, said: “The biometric attendance system has lots of problems, and due to it many pourakarmikas have not received their salary despite sweeping the streets. They should soon be paid their salary."

The workers should also be paid Rs 20 lakh compensation in case of death while on work,” he said.

However, the workers, who started the protest early in the morning, blocked all entrances to the BBMP head office that led police denying entry for the general public, who had come to get their work done.

BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad rushed to the spot and promised to bring the matter to the notice of the government.