JOIN USKarnataka State Safai Karmachari Commission chairman M R Venkatesh directed the authorities to file FIR against Antony Waste Handling Cell Pvt Ltd under Atrocities Act and Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
Antony Waste Handling Cell Pvt Ltd is the contract agency of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) for collecting and transporting all waste from the city.Briefing media persons here after holding a review meeting on Saturday, he said that the contract agency has failed to supply safety equipment like gloves, mask, gumboots for the civic workers.
In addition, he said, wages were not paid in time and PF was not remitted properly. The wages were not credited to the bank accounts of the civic workers, who were forced to work from 6 am to 7 pm, which is a clear violation of the labour laws. Hence, officials have been asked to file FIR against the contract agency. Stating that the breakfast scheme for civic workers has covered 60% of the ULBs in the state, Venkatesh said that he will direct all the ULBs to implement it effectively.
Case against KSRTC MD
Earlier, the chairperson had inspected the condition of the toilets at the KSRTC bus stand and expressed his dissatisfaction about the unhygienic condition.
Although the cleaning work has been outsourced and Rs 5 is collected from the users, cleanliness is not maintained in majority of the KSRTC bus stands.
Everyday, Rs 2,300 is paid to the outsourcing agency, he said and added that he will write to the government to lodge a case against the KSRTC managing director. The civic workers in the KSRTC bus stands are paid a meagre of Rs 200 per day, which is a clear violation of Minimum Wages Act, said Venkatesh.
On the issue of regularising the services of civic workers, Venkatesh said that the state government is mulling over regularising the services of civic workers. There was confusion on the minimum education qualification for the post.
Moreover, civic workers were not recruited for the last 30 years in Karnataka. Now, chief minister has given approval for fixing simple qualification, knowledge of Kannada and physical fitness for the recruitment. In the first phase, 17,000 civic workers will be recruited and in the second phase 12,000 will be recruited, the chairperson explained.
Venkatesh said 1,000 civic workers will be taken on a foreign tour to study the level of cleanliness in foreign countries. The passports of 1,000 civic workers are ready and the tour will be materialised next month. Eleven civic workers from Mangaluru have been selected for the tour.
Work on the construction of quarters for civic workers under the ‘Gruha Bhagya’ yojane is under progress. In the vigilance committee meeting, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given approval for regularising the quarters of retired civic workers. A government circular on not to get the retired civic workers to vacate from the quarters, will be issued to all the ULBs shortly.
Wenlock Hospital lauded
Venkatesh lauded the Government Wenlock Hospital authorities for providing all the benefits including wages under the Minimum Wages Act and other allowances for the civic workers.
He added that although towns in Dakshina Kannada district are clean when compared to other towns in the state, the condition of civic workers continues to be poor.