Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has come under intense criticism for his strong remarks to Bengaluru’s civic workers or ‘Pourakarmikas’ and for the footpath anti-encroachment drive and other contentious issues.
Gowda, the Bengaluru In-Charge Minister, has been criticised—with some terming his actions “unconstitutional”—for removing street vendors. He has been tagged along with Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on social media.
On Tuesday, activists called out the minister for clearing out street vendors, stating that this action violated a law that the Congress itself introduced. “Hello @RahulGandhi your minister @krishnabgowda violates the Street Vendors Act with impunity. No relocation for street vendors, only repeated evictions. Why is this tolerated?” Vinay K. S. an advocate and activist said in his post on X.
In an earlier video, Gowda was seen scolding civic workers who requested him to honour a long-standing demand to make them permanent employees and free them from the existing contractual set-up.
“You people don’t come to work, why should we give you tenure?” Gowda is heard saying in the video.
Gowda’s remarks to ‘Pourakarmikas’ have since manifested into the larger issue of waste management–or mismanagement–ecosystem in India’s IT capital, reigniting the caste and class divide debate.
It also brought into question the very ‘garbage mafia’ that successive governments, including Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, have often seen as an unmanageable menace. Even though Bengaluru is among the richest Indian cities, its waste management–or mismanagement often overshadows its positive attributes like being the Silicon Valley and startup capital.
New tenders for garbage
After three years as Bengaluru In-Charge, Shivakumar finally relented and gave up the coveted portfolio to Gowda when the former replaced Siddaramaiah as chief minister on 3 June.
Now Gowda has inherited the city’s legacy issues and the challenges that come with them. This includes fixing pothole-laden roads, crumbling infrastructure, rapid erosion of green cover, rising temperatures due to increased concretisation, and delayed implementation of metro and suburban rail among other issues.
The challenges also include bringing in accountability to the so-called garbage mafia which even Shivakumar had admitted was a formidable force.
“We are issuing new tenders for garbage which hasn’t been done in decades,” Gowda told ThePrint in an earlier interaction.
This refers to the nearly Rs 40,000 crore tender which its own finance department had flagged for inflated costs, steep annual cost escalations and other clauses that the latter deemed untenable.
The tender’s approval would give Hyderabad-based Ramky Group’s sister concern, MSW Solutions Limited control to process Bengaluru’s nearly 5,200 tonnes of garbage.
According to the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), the city generates about 5,500 MT of municipal solid waste daily due to its booming population, rapid urbanisation, and rising consumption patterns.
“Who is counting how much garbage is actually generated in Bengaluru? This is the number being parroted repeatedly by contractors and their political masters. There is no audit done on this so far,” said a retired IAS official with direct knowledge of the issue, requesting anonymity.
While several companies operate in the recycling space, much of the contract to collect waste from homes and other spaces remains under the tight control of a cartel, people aware of the developments say.
Each time the government mentions the tender, municipal workers go on strike. In March this year, garbage pickup vehicle drivers went on strike to protest against BSWML over salary delays and new rules on waste segregation.
ThePrint tried to reach the BSWML chief on a call. This report will be updated if and when we receive a response.
‘Exploited by contractors’
In 2017, the then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government assured it would make all contract civic workers permanent employees. However, civic workers say that most of these promises remain largely unfulfilled.
“Less than 10,000 such workers have been made permanent. Even though sweepers get direct payment from the city corporation, the government has so far refused to consider auto drivers, loaders and helpers for tenure,” Nirmala, the President of the ‘Pourakarmikas ‘association told ThePrint.
She added that most of these helpers, auto drivers and loaders are under contractors who hold back a significant chunk of their wages.
“Sometimes they get paid once every three months and the contractor only gives them two months’ pay. Most of them are exploited and remain firmly in the clutches of these contractors,” she added.
Nirmala says that Gowda’s statements have only added insult to injury as contractors and corporation officials are using the minister’s statements to exploit workers even more.
Most of these workers are forced to collect garbage with no protective gear, gloves or even a mask. Several of them pick up and segregating garbage barehanded.
Garbage collection workers who spoke to ThePrint say that contractors deduct a part of their wages. “A large part of our wages are often delayed and we are told that the government has paid them. Why are we made to suffer in the process?” said one garbage pickup worker, requesting anonymity.
Clifton Rozario, Central Committee Member, CPI(ML) Liberation and a prominent advocate who takes up cases related to contract workers, said that ‘Pourakarmikas’ work without any employment benefits.
“Pourakarmikas include sweepers and garbage vehicle workers. The sweepers, primarily Dalit women, were made permanent under the Chief Ministership of Siddaramaiah. The garbage vehicle workers continue to be exploited under the contract system. No monthly pay, weekly offs, ESI or Provident Fund benefits,” he said.
Nirmala said their association has asked the government not to call for new tenders for garbage disposal as it would be cheaper just to make the existing staff permanent than to hand them over to new contractors who are unlikely to treat them any differently.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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