Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation Govind Karjol on Monday said the State Government was working towards regularising the pourakarmikas working in urban local bodies of the State in the next two months.
Speaking at an awareness programme for pourakarmikas organised by Karnataka State Safai Karmachari Commission and the Mysuru district administration, Mr. Karjol said the State Cabinet had already decided to regularise the services of all the estimated 52,000 pourakarmikas working in urban areas of the State.
To tide over the legal hurdles, a committee had been set to frame special recruitment rules for the regularisation of the services of the pourakarmikas, who are not yet permanent government employees. The Basavaraj Bommai government will secure the report of the committee in the next one or two months and take necessary action, Mr. Karjol assured.
With regard to rural pourakarmikas, Mr. Karjol said the government is gathering the accurate information on the number. He also said that the government was providing each pourkarmika with a monthly compenation of ₹2,000 till their services are regularised.
Manual scavenging
He said the local bodies have been instructed by the government to purchase necessary equipment to clean the sewers and cautioned pourakarmikas against manually cleaning clogged sewage lines even they are paid a large sum of money. “The cleaning of the sewers has to be done mandatorily by machines. If the machines are not bought, pressure should be brought to bear upon the authorities. Officials should be penalised if they have not kept the machines to clean sewers,” he added.
He regretted that manual scavenging continued in the country even 75 years after Independence.
During the event, children of pourakarmikas, who had secured good marks in their examinations, were rewarded under the Pratibha Puraskara programme.
Minister for Co-operation S.T. Somashekar, who is also the Minister in charge of Mysuru district, Chairperson of State Safai Karmachari Commission Shivanna, MLC C.N. Manje Gowda, Mayor Sunanda Palanetra, Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru Bagadi Gautham and Chief Executive Officer of Mysuru Zilla Panchayat B.R. Poornima were also present.
