Pourakarmikas to be regularised: CM

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said that the government will amend  the law to regularise the jobs of Pourakarmikas (civic labourers) working on daily-wage in local bodies.

He was addressing the first state-level convention of civic labourers here on Sunday. He said that the government is drafting an amendment so that there would be no legal problems in implementing it.

Referring to the Municipal Administration Minister Balchandra Jarkiholi’s remarks, (who spoke earlier in the convention) that some IAS officials had discouraged bringing in any amendment seeking regularisation of jobs of civic labourers quoting previous cases in Supreme Court, Shettar said that the proposed amendment will be meticulous in all means so that there will be no scope even to the apex court to interfere in the matter.

The Chief Minister said that his government is committed to implement the recommendations of the Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by PWD Minister C M Udasi about regularising the jobs of the Pourakarmikas. He claimed that the BJP government has fulfilled most of the demands of the pourakarmikas and promised that rest will be fulfilled soon.

He said that none of the previous governments worked for the welfare of the pourakarmikas like the present regime. He also said that the Cabinet has approved to give Rs 2,000 as special allowance to the pourakarmikas.

Shettar claimed that the local bodies are getting grants in crores after the BJP government assumed power in the state.

He pointed out that Rs 1,730 crore has been released under Nagarothana scheme allocating grants ranging from Rs 5 crore to Rs 30 crore to local bodies. He advised the officials to utilise the grant properly.

Pourakarmikas Commission has been established, approved the recommendations of IPC Salappa report, imparting training to pourakarmikas on domestic waste management, payment is being made through cheque for the daily-wage workers who have been working for more than eight years, he said.

Shettar called upon the people to respect pourakarmikas and their profession. Though their work is considered low, entire city will suffer if they do not work for four days, he said.

Earlier, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai felicitated five pourakarmikas, who will retire from the services on October 31 and the meritorious children of the pourakarmikas who have scored high marks in the recent examinations.