While the staff of all local bodies in Kerala have been included in the public service category, cleaning workers are left in the lurch to wonder why they have been excluded from the list.
It was only a couple of days ago that the Chief Minister announced that staff of local bodies will now be part of public service, which makes them eligible for the benefits enjoyed by public servants across the State. However, cleaning workers who come under the health wing of municipalities and corporations have been left out of the list.
“Cleaning workers in municipalities and corporations are no longer the illiterate working class they used to be a few decades ago. Now, we have even graduates and postgraduates among them, who have been forced to take up this job due to the rising unemployment rate,” said Kozhikode district president of Kerala Municipal and Corporation Workers’ Congress K. Shaji, adding that they are to continue doing the same job throughout their life and had no opportunities for promotion or better placement based on their qualifications while working under local bodies.
