Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday assured the Legislative Assembly that he would discuss the regularisation of services of pourakarmikas working in different towns and cities with the Finance Department officials to estimate the annual burden on the State exchequer and its consequences.
In a reply to an issue raised by Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and P. Rajeev (BJP), Mr. Bommai said the Government had announced in its Budget on increasing the salary of pourakarmikas by ₹2,000 a month. The regularisation of services is “desirable” and the minimum salary fixed for regular employees is ₹35,000 a month. A large number of civic body workers have been hired by contractors and not by the Government. Unlike in the past, salary was being credited to the bank accounts of civic workers, he said.
Earlier, Mr. Siddaramaiah said civic workers have been seeking fulfilment of 27 demands, including regularisation of their services. They staged a protest in the city recently and he visited the spot. There are 18,000 civic workers in the city. Currently, their monthly salary is ₹17,000.
Mr. Rajeev said the Government should set aside 1% cess collected under the Swacch Bharat scheme for the welfare of civic workers.
