Why Karnataka civic workers went on a strike and what Bommai govt has done now

Pourakarmikas protest: The sanitation workers have been demanding dignified working conditions for quite some time.

Pourakarmikas, on the frontlines of cleanliness duty in Karnataka, launched an indefinite strike on Friday as they demanded better salaries and permanent jobs. More than 15,000 pourakarmikas of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) were said to be part of the protests. Amid opposition attacks and intensifying demonstrations, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Saturday that the state government would be regularising the services of these civic workers. The demonstrations come months ahead of the assembly elections due in the state.

Bengaluru: Pourakarmikas (safai karamchari) shout slogans during their statewide indefinite strike demanding regularization of their services, dignified working conditions, post-retirement benefits and other welfare measures, at Freedom Park in Bengaluru, Friday, July 1, 2022. (PTI)

Here is a 10-pointer lowdown on the strike by pourakarmikas of Karnataka:

1. “The state government will regularise services of pourakarmikas working on direct payment. We have agreed to extend social security, medical service, and assistance for the education of children of Pourakarmikas. Necessary rules will be formulated during the next assembly session,” the chief minister on Saturday told reporters.

2. Bengaluru alone has an estimated population of 1.3 crore and a protest by civic workers means the cleanliness work coming to a standstill. HT had earlier reported that the city generates waste of about 5,000 tonnes everyday.

3. The demonstrations were organised by the Pourakarmikara Sanghatanegala Janti Horata Samiti, of which Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Powrakarmikara Sangha was a co-organiser, news agency ANI reported.

4. Among those in opposition that backed the protests were the Aam Aadmi Party. "If pourakarmikas refuse to work even for a single day, the waste disposal problem will worsen and people will have to close their noses. Sanitation workers, including cleaners and sweepers, are paid a meagre salary. They are unable to meet their basic needs with this salary. So, their jobs must be made permanent," AAP state vice-president Bhaskar Rao was quoted as saying by ANI.

5. In a series of tweets, former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah also hit out at the Bommai government “ Employment of 17,000 pourakarmikas were regularised as government employees when I was CM of Karnataka. More than 11,000 contractual pourakarmikas were inducted as govt employees in Bengaluru alone & ensured salaries reaches them directly. (sic),” he wrote on Saturday.

6. “Our government constructed houses for 3,165 pourakarmika beneficiaries under Pourakarmika Vasathi Gruha Bhagya Scheme. We also ensured housing for the remaining eligible beneficiaries through other housing schemes,” he said in another post.

7. In the past, Rahul Gandhi had taken a jibe at the BJP in praise for former Karnataka government. “Now, when we get the government in Delhi, we will learn from the Karnataka government because the person doing the most difficult work should be rewarded the most. The problem in India is that the person doing the most difficult work is not rewarded and the person doing the easiest work is rewarded. That is what the Congress party wants to change,” he had said in 2018.

8. In May, amid protests, a civic worker’s death was reported in Bengaluru, as demands for safety gears for civic workers grew.

9. The sanitation workers have been demanding dignified working conditions for long.

10. Karnataka has been one of the worst-hit states in the country amid the pandemic. Over the last few weeks, Bengaluru has been registering the highest number of Covid cases of the southern state’s overall infections.

(With inputs from ANI)