Mangaluru: Karnataka State Commission for Safai Karamcharis Chairperson Narayan has expressed his interest to scrap the existing contract system in all ULBs within a month, following complaints of exploitation by contractors.
Speaking after a review meeting at Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Friday, Narayan lamented that ESI and PF facilities are not being given to Safai Karamcharis in Mangalore City Corporation limits and in other urban local bodies (ULBs) of the district. Though workload is heavy, there are no documents like biometric cards on PF and ESI which would help them to avail various facilities, he said. He gave 15 days to the ULB chiefs and contractors to correct the system.
Narayan observed that civic workers are not getting more facilities from the reserved fund because of cap on income and directed the officials to provide relaxation on income limits. A community hall, may be worth Rs 1 crore should be built for them at the centre of the city. The city corporation and ULBs should utilise the fund which is earmarked for the development of Safai Karamcharis within the financial year end, he said.
He directed the district administration to distribute 16 sanctioned sites for Safai Karamcharis before January 26. The administration should identify the needy and disburse sites or houses at the earliest. Meanwhile, he ordered police officials to register suo-moto cases on manual scavenging.
Free education
Narayan said that it has been decided to provide free education to Safai Karamcharis’ children from primary to higher education. It would be declared after a meeting at Bengaluru on January 9. If they want to get higher education, the college fees can be refunded.
Meanwhile, he said that the Central government has withdrawn around Rs 250 crores out of Rs 300 crores which was provided for the welfare of Safai Karamcharis of the states, as it was not utilised. The commission has urged the government to bring the fund back to the state and take stringent action against officials who have shown negligence in utilising allocated funds.
He said that the State government has earmarked around Rs 16,000 crore for the welfare of backward classes, where Rs 4,000 crore is for STs and Rs 12,000 for SCs. Safai Karamcharis don’t get money from the State government. He requested the government to give the responsibility of managing Sulabh Shauchalaya and Nirmala Bharati schemes to unemployed youth from civic workers’ families.
Narayan said that the amount of compensation for Safai Karamcharis who die on duty has been increased to Rs 10 lakh as per the direction of State High Court. Watermen and Bill Collector posts will be regularised and payment will be done according to their work.
Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, Zilla Panchayat CEO Tulasi Maddineni, Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, MCC Deputy Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak and others were present.
