Pourakarmikas, street vendors seek apology from Krishna Byre Gowda over ‘insulting’ remarks

Calling Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda’s remarks against pourakarmikas an “insult” and “humiliation of workers”, pourakarmikas and street vendors have demanded that the Minister apologise to them, and accused the government of siding with contractors instead of those who clean the city.

In an open letter addressed to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Mr. Gowda, the workers asked why a government that came to power on the votes of the poor was treating them “with such contempt”. 

The letter and the backlash came after Mr. Gowda questioned the regularisation of contract pourakarmikas while pointing to an attendance of only 70% in some wards.

“Instead of using the absence of workers to attack the entire workforce, the Minister should investigate why workers were absent,” the workers said, questioning whether workers were given Employees’ State Insurance, Provident Fund or proper equipment, whether there were enough workers, how many workers contractors actually employed against the numbers for which they claimed payment, whether attendance records were being manipulated, and how many workers were falling sick because of hazardous working conditions. The workers said the contract workers were not being paid wages on time, sometimes for several months, though they work 365 days a year without holidays.

The workers argued that the Minister’s remarks had already begun to be used against them. “After his (Mr. Gowda) statement went viral, people such as Mohandas Pai and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw attacked pourakarmikas for “work ethics”, while officials were threatening workers with dismissal by citing the Minister’s statement. In some places now, workers are being given barely ten minutes to eat lunch. This is what happens when a Minister publicly devalues workers,” the letter said.  

The worker groups argued that vendors were first evicted without proper notice and rehabilitation, in violation of protections under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, and now sanitation workers are being humiliated. “How many times has the Minister sat with pourakarmikas? How many times has he sat with street vendors? Instead, workers get lectures and evictions. And the government issues such statements while ignoring the laws that protect these communities,” the letter said.