BBMP yet to pay pourakarmikas, despite promise

A week after the BBMP promised to clear the outstanding wages of pourakarmikas, many still wait in hope.

After multiple protests over the past few weeks, the BBMP, on last Tuesday, assured the pourakarmikas that their wages would be cleared in three days. Had they honoured the commitment, the sanitation workers would have received their outstanding payments by June 8.

"They are claiming that they had paid 4,000 workers out of 16,000," said Nirmala, secretary of BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha. "The fact is, not even 4,000 have been paid. We receive calls from several workers regarding their outstanding wages."

While the sanitation workers have five months' salary dues, the BBMP has cleared dues for just one month, Nirmala said.

BBMP joint commissioner for health and solid waste management Sarfaraz Khan refuted the claims, saying: "We've been working day and night to solve the issue. We are currently verifying the number of pourakarmikas working and this is taking a longer time since we are doing it for the first time."

Nirmala said the workers' union would gather in the next two days to decide about holding protests.