more-in They came to the city in search of livelihood, but with working conditions failing to improve, many pourakarmikas are now giving up their jobs in desperation. There are 16,500 pourakarmikas on the rolls of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Narasappa, who hails from a village in Raichur district, was working as a sweeper. He says, “The last five months have been very challenging as the Palike has not paid a single rupee. I have a wife and two children to fend for, and cannot afford to live in the city with no income. Hence, I decided to move back to my village.” He now ekes out a living as a daily wager. Shanmugam, another pourakarmika, said at least 15 people he knew had quit their jobs. “I am also depressed as I have been unable to take care of my family. I had to take a loan of ?60,000 over the last couple of months to sustain my family. As officials don’t respond, many are suffering silently in the fear of losing their jobs,” he said. The pourakarmikas have, for years, been working without even basic facilities, such as safety gear and push carts, resulting in them developing health complications. One pourakarmika has been coping with abdominal pain and shoulder pain owing to lugging around garbage every day. “The push carts are not available in some wards. Even where it is available, the wheels are not aligned properly. It is very difficult to push them on the pothole-ridden roads,” she explained. The wedding and festival seasons puts additional burden on them. “Autorickshaws dedicated for the purpose are supposed to clear garbage from wedding halls and restaurants. However, they don’t come half the time. The onus falls on us to clear the garbage. During the monsoon, wet waste begins to decompose very quickly, making it difficult to scoop it out with our bare hands. “We deal with at least 15 kg of garbage every day, collecting them from four to five roads. We have skin allergies, as we have not been provided any safety gear,” said another pourakarmika. S. Balan, a labour rights activist and advocate, said that the push cart problem has been persisting over the years, but the Palike had failed to tackle it. “It’s not just the lack of push carts that has forced them to drag garbage in a sack. In several places, there are no brooms. Workers have to scoop out garbage with their hands,” he said. In the long run, these workers could injure their spinal cord, said a senior doctor in a government hospital. “The pourakarmikas are vulnerable to spinal cord injuries and slip disc problems owing to such undue physical exertion,” the doctor said.

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