Bengaluru, 5 September

Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Saturday scoffed at pourakarmika’s (civic workers) long-standing demand to be made permanent employees of the government, when some workers urged him to regularise their services during his inspection rounds.

“Around 30 per cent of pourakarmikas are not even reporting for their daily duties. Door-to-door garbage collection is not being carried out,” Gowda hit back. “As a result, in many places people are forced to throw garbage on the roads, and several parts of the City are stinking. We are being criticised by the public every day. Why should those who do not come to work, or those who come but do not perform their duties properly, be made permanent?”

Gowda’s comments appear to be a deviation from the previous Siddaramaiah-led government’s promises, where the former chief minister issued appointment letters to around 12,000 pourakarmikas. 

For more than 20-years, pourakarmikas have been demanding that they regularised, arguing that it will ensure that their salaries are paid on time and prevent the arbitrary suspensions. Many pourakarmikas, largely responsible for sanitation cleaning work, are from Dalit or other marginalised communities.