Mangaluru: The Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), on Wednesday, honoured 23 Pourakarmikas for their extraordinary service during the pandemic on ‘Pourakarmika Day’ during a programme held at the Town Hall.
inaugurating the programme, Mayor Diwakar Pandeshwar expressed the need for everyone to appreciate the pourakarmikas’ hard work and dedication. “If offer my sincere thanks to them for their services during the pandemic as they risked their lives for others. We wanted to honour them on Independence Day, but we weren’t able to do so due to certain reasons. I am happy that we recognized their services on this Pourakarmika Day,” he said.
He then added that discussions will be held in the next meeting of the Council regarding the provision of better facilities for the pourakarmikas.
After the inauguration the programme, MCC Commissioner Akshy Sridhar said, “Every day should be observed as ‘Pourakarmika Day’ for the hard work and service rendered by the pourakarmikas day and night, 356 days a year. We should applaud their dedication and hard work as the city is clean because of them. We can even call them the patriots for their patriotism.”
He then added that the pourakarmikas’ list of demands will soon be discussed and met during the council meeting.
On the occasion, the 23 Pourakarmikas were felicitated by the dignitaries on the dais. Retired civic workers were also honoured during the programme. There are a total of 206 pourakarmikas in the MCC and 591 working at Antony Waste Handling Co.
MCC Health Committee chairman Poornima and president of the Pourakarmika’s Association Anil Kumar also spoke on the occasion.
The programme concluded with a few renditions of Kannada and Tulu songs by brother and sister duo Prashanth and Pavithra, the children of Appi, who is an attender in the MCC’s health section.
Er Shabrinath, the MCC Environment Engineer delivered the welcome address. The vote of thanks was delivered MCC Senior Health Inspector Shivalingha Kondugoli and the programme was compered by MCC Environment Engineer Er Madhu Manohar.
Deputy Mayor Vedavathi, MCC Deputy Commissioner (Administration) Dr Santhosh Kumar, MCC Health Officer Dr Manjayya Shetty, Opposition leader of the MCC Council Abdul Rauf, and other corporators were also present.
