The recently ended strike of Safai Karamcharis in Karnataka is a reminder of the plight of the system
The recently ended strike of Safai Karamcharis in Karnataka is a reminder of the plight of the system
Pourkarmikas (sanitation workers) across Karnataka began a strike on July 1, demanding an end to the system of contractual employment through contractors. Four days after the strike was called off, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai promised to form a committee in three months to work out the modalities for drafting workers on permanent rolls of municipal corporations, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). did. Will the solid waste management (SWM) in the state finally come out of the clutches of the contractors? The history of the struggle of the Pourkarmikas in Karnataka shows that this is not an easy goal.
The strike is the latest twist in the saga that can be traced back to 1976 when the Devraj Urs-led government formed a committee headed by IPD Salappa to look into the issues of the Safai Karamcharis. The report of that committee recommending direct employment of workers and welfare measures is still waiting to be implemented.
Most municipal corporations in Karnataka stopped direct recruitment of sanitation workers after liberalization and issued contracts to vendors for sweeping roads as well as door-to-door garbage collection and transportation. These vendors in turn recruited sweepers. These contractors gradually developed into politically well-connected and money-making lobbies. For example, Bengaluru spends around ₹1,200 crore annually for SWM mostly through contractors and faces allegations of bogus billing and bribery.
The demand for safai karamcharis for permanent government employment, which grew louder around 2010-11, led to the payment of wages less than the prescribed minimum wage, sexual exploitation of female employees, use of violence and dismissal of anyone who questioned the system. Started as a protest. After a strike in 2016, the then Congress government announced an end to the contract system and employment of all sanitation workers by municipal corporations. However, the contractors managed to partially derail the system.
The Karnataka Municipalities (Pourakarmika Recruitment) (Special Rules), 2017, classified only those who are posted as sweepers on roads and brought under the direct payment scheme, essentially on contractual employment but directly with municipal corporations instead of contractors. This meant that the contractors continued to dominate the garbage collection and transportation (van drivers, loaders etc.).
The process of bringing pourworkers under the direct payment scheme exposed rampant corruption in the waste contracting system. The contractors were claiming salaries of over 31,000 pourkarmikas from the BBMP, but the civic body got only 17,000 odd pourkarmikas when it brought in all those working under its direct contract. The scam has not been investigated till date.
During the recent strike, the Safai Karamcharis demanded that all of them be treated as Pourkarmikas and provided permanent employment by the Municipal Corporations. The state government has now said that it will make the scavengers permanent and try to bring other safai karamcharis directly under the payment scheme. If implemented, municipal corporations will take back the role of end-to-end SWM in-house, terminating all contracts. This assurance by the state government comes amid a new parastatal, Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited, being set up for SWM in the city. It has finalized a draft of a new waste collection and transport tender for five years. Tenders are to be floated by the end of this month. Whether they will be called in or not will tell us whether the contractors will eventually be pulled out of the sector. With Karnataka likely to hold assembly elections in 2023 and BBMP elections before that, the question becomes even more important.
adhitya.bharadwaj@thehindu.co.in