Turning a blind eye to safety

More than a year ago, Bangalore police had directed all residents to turn in details of their domestic workers. But neither the police nor the people have been enthusiastic enough to pursue it.

Most people say that they get their house-maids through acquaintances and other
people rather than from an agency. This process, they say, is easier.

People, who tend to entrust their house and sometimes their children with housemaids, don’t seem to make any extra effort to get the background of these maids verified despite increasing cases of stealing by housemaids coming to light.

Metrolife interacted with the crime division of the Bangalore City police and
the ordinary people to understand why the process of registering details of domestic workers with the jurisdictional police hasn’t caught on.

The police say that they’ve done all they can to make people aware of such a scheme wherein the residents can turn in details of the domestic helpers, including their photograph and contact address, to the police.

“But people don’t seem keen to come foward. It is impossible for us to go on a door-to-door campaigning for this purpose as we are short-staffed. If a case is registered, then immediate action is taken. People will have to come out with the details of their maids,” said a top cop in the City who didn’t want to be quoted. The senior officer further states, “We have a handful of people who have given the details. The rest don’t seem to know about it.”

Maids are an indispensable part of any household. Most people hire part-time maids and a few, where both the couples are working, have full-time maids. The security issues pertaining to maids is different in independent houses and in apartments. Rehana Mujeeb, a housewife, who lives in an independent house, feels a domestic help is quite necessary. “However, getting trustworthy people has always been an issue.

Although we hear a lot about new agencies, which have employees enrolled after stringent background checks, most of us rely on word of mouth and probably hire people who is known to other families in the vicinity,” reasons Rehana. She adds, “There have been multiple scenarios of thefts at households and that compel us to be careful about helpers.”

Soma Majumdar is a resident of Harmony Homes in Kalyan Nagar and a member of the apartment committee. Soma points out that household helpers at apartments are required to create an identity card when they are employed. This identity card consists of name, permanent address, contact numbers and a photo identification which is verified at the time of creation.

“This card is checked when the domestic worker enters the apartment complex and retained by the security personnel. It is returned at the time of leaving the building. This identity card is revoked and returned to the security personnel upon termination of the employment,” she explains.

Durga Bhattacharya, another housewife feels, “When letting a stranger into your house, security is an obvious concern. However, it’s the frequent, uninformed leave and the high rate of attrition that disrupt the family’s daily routine.” The irregularity of maids and the quality of work is a concern. “The issue about the quality of work is a topic frequently discussed. But in reality, the pay scales in the Indian unorganised market are still low, which means they are forced to take up multiple jobs on a tight schedule,” she sums up.