Bengaluru: Not paid for 6 months, say pourakarmikas

BENGALURU: Pourakarmikas across the city have been complaining that they haven’t received payments for six months, but the BBMP claims a minuscule number of employees are affected due to systemic issues.
“I’ve been working through the pandemic, but BBMP has not paid me a single paise for six months now. We’re also not getting any health benefits,” said a pourakarmika from Jayanagar.
Another worker from Kavalbyrasandra said her family has piled up debts as she is not getting salary. “My friends and I’ve been working regularly and we registered our attendance on the biometric system, but contractors vandalise these machines and claim we never worked. When we complain to senior health inspectors, they ask us to speak to the contractors. But they threaten to remove us from our jobs, which is worrisome,” she added.
“There are stray cases of pourakarmikas not receiving salaries,” Randeep D, special commissioner, SWM, said, adding such cases will be handled individually. According to Randeep, the number of pourakarmikas in the city has come down post the Covid-19 outbreak.
“We initially had 18,500 pourakarmikas, but now the number might be 11,000 or 13,000 as many have quit and some have not resumed work,” he added. There could be others called by engineers for work but who are not registered in the biometric system. Their attendance could have been taken through a register, he said, adding the matter will be looked into and wages released.