Ghost in the machine By Sandeep Pai and Shravya Jain Bangalore, May 6: Several contractors working for the city’s solid waste management department are employing fewer workers than what they have been contracted for, according to IIJNM investigations. According to three-year contracts signed by the contractors and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in March 2007, each contractor must employ a specific number of workers according to each health ward’s needs throughout the year.
Interviews with the supervisors and pourakarmikas working under different contractors throughout the city as well as examinations of workers’ attendance lists showed a large discrepancy between the number of people actually working and the number of workers on contractors’ payrolls. For instance, in health ward 56(b), which is part of the Padmanabha Nagar Range in the South Zone, the attendance register maintained by the mestri (an overseer in charge of one health ward. He is employed by the contractor) Y. Narasimha showed a list of 45 workers in March. But the “Sanitation Handbook” released by BBMP’s health department for the ward states that the contractor, C. Ravi Naidu, is supposed to provide 51 workers for solid waste management. Narasimha said he had 50 people working under him in the ward, while the register showed a list of 45 workers. “There is a total of 50 workers here. Thirty-three pourakarmikas and 17 lorry workers,” he said. When this reporter attended the 10.30 a.m. muster roll on March 4, a quick headcount showed that there were 22 pourakarmikas on the site, although 45 workers had been marked as present for the 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. muster rolls. This list of 45 included 17 lorry workers, none of whom appeared for the muster roll. Naidu, the contractor, in a telephone interview declined to give specific figures regarding the number of workers hired by him in this area. He said that the number of workers working in the ward is the same as what is stated in the sanitation handbook. |
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