Pourakarmikas' protest hits garbage clearance

Garbage clearance was badly hit for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as a large number of pourakarmikas struck work and staged a demonstration in front of the BBMP head office protesting against the new garbage clearance contract, which they fear would render them jobless.

Pourakarmikas took out a procession from the BBMP head office to Bannappa Park, urging the BBMP administration to implement the Salappa report, which contains specific guidelines on number of pourakarmikas to be hired to keep the City clean. The report says that one pourakarmika is needed for every 500 people.

After the demonstration, the pourakarmikas submitted a memorandum to BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel, highlighting the “discrepancies” in the new tender conditions, which may render them jobless.

They stated that one of the contractor firms, BVG India, has reportedly decided to reduce the number of pourakarmikas from 17,000 to 9,000, leaving at least 8,000 jobless.
“If the contractor is allowed to reduce the number of pourakarmikas, each worker will have to clean at least eight km a day, which is humanly impossible,” they said.