IIJNM :: Investigations

(Ghost in the machine...continued)

Rajashekhar, the health inspector of the ward, said initially that a maximum of 40 pourakarmikas worked in that particular health ward. However, when it was pointed out to him that the overseer had told us that there were 50 workers in the ward, Rajashekar changed his statement and said there were actually 45 workers.

A mestri working in the Jayamahal area said the department has allocated 103 workers in the contract, but the contractor has hired only 50 workers. “Tell me, how can we work? Even if there is a shortage of 20 workers, we can somehow manage. But it’s difficult to manage with 50 per cent fewer workers,” he said. The mestri asked not to be named as he said he feared how his boss, the contractor, might react.

Some Pourakarmikas exist only on paper

Picture by: Shravya Jain

The contractor for the Jayamahal range, Babu Reddy, disconnected the phone when asked how many workers he had employed in the range. Later, his phone was switched off.

Similarly, another mestri in Bharati nagar Range said the number of people they have hired for solid waste management is simply not enough. “According to the BBMP there should be 42 workers. But, the contractor has hired only 35. Now there are 35 workers,” he said.

The contractor, R. Panduranga, said he was unaware of the exact number of workers working in his range. He said he would ask his supervisors for exact numbers.

“[The number of workers] is the same as what is mentioned in the contract,” he said.

Ramesh Ramanathan, the cofounder of Janaagraha, a nongovernmental organisation working for urban reforms in Bangalore, said the discrepancy in the contracted worker numbers and the actual attendance could be a classic case of the contractor billing the city for “ghost workers,” or employees who don’t actually work under his watch.

Ramanathan said the BBMP spends Rs. 66,638,697 per month on solid waste management. Forty-five per cent, or Rs.29, 987,414, consists of the wages for the city’s more than 10,000 pourakarmikas.

Based on the two case studies and the quotes of the supervisors cited in this article, 20 per cent of the pourakarmikas are not working but are still being billed by the contractors, Ramanathan said. “Thus the amount of money that the BBMP loses every month is 20 per cent of Rs 29,987,414. This comes out to be Rs 5,997,483 per month.”

Over the course of the year, that amounts to Rs 71,969,793 that the contractors “could be siphon[ing] off on account of over billing,” he said.