PRESS MEET
jointly organized by
Town Municipal Council, City Municipal Council and Mahanagar Pallike Pourakarmika Mahasagha
and
Safaikarmachari Kavulu Samithi – Karnataka
Main Demands regarding Contract Safaikarmacharis
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Shri Subramani, a contract safaikarmachari working for BBMP, having not received his monthly salary since last six months, and unable to continue living without salary, consumed poison and killed himself; this is an extremely unfortunate matter;
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The officials responsible for this incident should be booked under SC/ST Atrocities Act 1989 as amended, and they should be immediately suspended;
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Since BBMP is directly responsible for Shri Subramani’s death, his family should be given Rs 25 lakhs and along with this his wife should be provided with permanent employment;
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The process of direct appointment of safaikarmacharis by BBMP which is stuck for the last 3-4 years, should be started immediately and finished within a fixed time period;
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The process of direct appointment of contract safaikarmacharis working under all Mahanagar Pallike, Corporations, Municipal Councils, and Town Panchayats across the state should be completed immediately; In this regard, orders should be issued to all DCs to complete this process within fixed time period; disciplinary action should be taken against any officer found showing negligence in this matter.
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Fixing of the maximum age for direct appointment at 45 years is both misappropriate and anti-worker; this age should be fixed at least 50 years and for the workers above 50 years of age, appropriate compensation should be provided along with employment for their family members;
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For direct appointment of safaikarmacharis, the rule that one worker will be appointed for population of 700 is unscientific and should be removed; instead one worker should be appointed for population of 500 (As per I P D Salappa Report)
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For past several years, contractors and officials have been colluding to deny safaikarmacharis benefits like PF and ESI; the State government should register complaint in this matter and take appropriate legal action; and action should also be taken to return PF money of all safaikarmacharis.
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Suitable housing should be provided to safaikarmacharis in their town/cities; local officials and elected representatives are deliberately not taking action on this front; therefore, state government should immediately take appropriate action;
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Basic faculties like drinking water, toilet, hot water and rest house should be provided in all urban areas in the state at the work place of safaikarmacharis;
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To ensure that the pre-matric scholarship under the scheme formulated by Central government for children of parents engaged in unclean occupations, reaches all children of safaikarmachari, the state government should make new rules;
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The establishment of Safaikarmachari Development Corporation is a step in right direction but it is not discharging its responsibility as per rules; While appointing the Chairman and members of the State Safaikarmachari Commission, only those leaders should be considered who have been engaged in organizing the community for at least 10 years; for no reason should any other persons be considered for appointment.
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The establishment of Safaikarmachari Development Corporation is a step in right direction; a joint committee comprising officials and leaders of safaikarmachari organizations should be set-up to formulate and implement new policy and rules for identifying safaikarmacharis and directly providing them facilities so as to avoid the injustice to safaikarmacharis being perpetrated by middle men.
Regarding the Implementation of The Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013
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Towards complete eradication of the widespread practice of manual scavenging across the State, a mass campaign through street plays, wall messages, posters, handbills and radio-TV should be carried out in public places, institutions, safaikarmachari community areas etc is the need of the hour; all support and assistance required to carry out this campaign through safaikarmachari organizations should be provided by Social Welfare Department;
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State government is required to provide the comprehensive rehabilitation as per 2013 Act to the families of 905 manual scavengers identified and registered since 2013 (2013 urban survey-302; 2016 rural verification – 447 and 2017-Davangere-156); a special programme should be formulated to rehabilitate the families of these 905 families.
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Several workers have died while on duty on account of various forms of ill-health issues, but no officials have taken any action regarding this matter; (recently, two safaikarmacharis working under Tumkuru Mahanagara Pallike died along the roadside; the officials there didn’t come and see them even for courtesy sake; neither did they take any action)
With Regards,
Narayana, State President and Former President – State Safaikarmachari Commission
K B Obalesh, State Convener