The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Soiling their hands for pittance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Soiling their hands for pittance

DOES ANYONE CARE?: Kalyanammas are aplenty doing dirty work for a clean city. Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: "My hands are full of boils from handling nauseating waste, and when I go home in the evenings I do not feel like eating," said Kalyanamma, a pourakarmika working for a private garbage contractor in Bangalore's west zone. Toiling for nine hours from 6.30 a.m., she gets a meagre salary of Rs. 1,400 a month.

When she recently fell ill with chikungunya, Kalyanamma continued to work. Her fear: she might lose her job if she took leave.

Like her colleagues, she is prone to serious health hazards. More than that, accidents at workplace. But, she is not entitled to medical benefits, sick leave or compensation.

With the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's (BMP) new garbage contracts coming into force from February 1, pourakarmikas working for contractors hope that things will change for the better. These workers also expect that the BMP will regularise their services some day.

"I have worked for six years as a contract worker with the only hope that my services will be regularised some day. Though that still remains a dream, I now only hope that my services will be continued by the new contractor," said Subbamma, another worker.

Though the BMP has stipulated a minimum wage of Rs. 1,800 a month for contract pourakarmikas, they are still being paid between Rs. 1,200 and Rs. 1,500. This is because the BMP has done nothing to enforce the rule till now. Several protests and rallies by the Support Group for Contract Pourakarmikas comprising human rights organisations, women's groups and concerned citizens, have been in vain in the past.

The BMP has now fixed a monthly minimum wage for the contract pourakarmikas at Rs. 2,075 and the amount will be paid through cheques, officials say.

Will the new contracts change the life of these pourakarmikas? That story has to wait for another day.

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