Sanitation workers in the City on Tuesday staged a protest in front of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike head office on Tuesday demanding that they be spared from segregating waste.
Hundreds of contract civic workers took out a rally from the Town Hall to the Palike head office stating that waste segregation should be done at source.
“Asking us to segregate garbage is not correct. By doing this, many of our workers will contract skin problems and other diseases,” they said.
Secretary of Pourakarmika Mahasangha, Bengaluru unit, N Anjaneyalu said there were 18,000 contract civic workers in the City. “Though they work so hard, they are paid a meagre Rs 6,691 per month. The State government is cheating them by recruiting new workers. Instead, it should regularise those working on contract.”
Mahasangha president P N Muthyalappa said contract civic workers were deprived of facilities such as provident fund, ESI, weekly holidays among others.
“Though we have been demanding a minimum wage of Rs 15,000 for civic workers and other facilities for many years, no action has been taken by the government or the Palike,” he said.
The workers submitted a memorandum to Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy who, they said, had promised to look into their demands after a meeting with the Mahasangha and sanitation workers on January 4.