Civic officials hope to restart this month the recruitment process of 4,000 pourakarmikas which has been pending for nearly three years. This follows a round of discussions with various unions and the BBMP.
While there are over 18,500 pourakarmikas, they are still under contract though the civic body has been disbursing their salaries directly to their accounts since January 2018.
BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) D. Randeep said that after objections were raised by the unions, who demanded that all the 18,500 pourakarmikas be made permanent, the civic body had written to the government regarding the same. “However, the government directed the BBMP to first initiate the recruitment of the 4,000 pourakarmikas,” he said
Maithreyi Krishnan from the BBMP Pourakarmikara Sangha said the association had for long been demanding that all the pourakarmikas currently working for the BBMP, along with the drivers and cleaners of the compactors and auto-tippers, be made permanent workers. “Most of them have put in at least two decades of service. Recruiting just 4,000 undermines them and disregards their service to the city,” she said.
Narayana, state president of the Karnataka State Corporations, Municipality, Town Municipality Pourakarmika Union, told The Hindu that during the meeting with senior BBMP officials, the union had urged the civic body to increase the age limit from 45 years to 55 years. The other demands include relaxation in the education requirement and fluency in spoken Kannada, even if it is not their native language.
“We hope the recruitment process that has been pending for nearly three years sees some progress,” he said.
On the relaxations that have been demanded by the unions, the civic body will seek the government’s permission, following which the recruitment process will be re-initiated.
“This should hopefully be done by February. Meanwhile, we will start the backend processes for the recruitment and ensure it is in place over the next 15 days,” said Mr. Randeep.
