Bengaluru sanitation workers have warned of protests across Karnataka unless the government implements the IPD Salappa report and provides service security to pourakarmikas, septic-tank workers and daily-wage waste workers.
Hennooru Srinivas, honorary president of the Karnataka State Pourakarmika and Safai Karmachari Workers Union, made the demand at a press conference on Tuesday. He said the High Court had directed government departments to implement the report and urged them to comply with the direction.
According to Srinivas, the government issued a circular for implementing the report in 1977, but its provisions have not been followed. He said sanitation workers remain insufficient in number compared with the population, increasing the workload for those currently employed.
The union demanded that workers who have completed more than one year of service be made permanent. It also sought a minimum monthly salary of ₹50,000 for sanitation workers and free education for their children from the primary level through higher education.
The demands cover workers involved in several essential urban services, including municipal sanitation, septic-tank operations and waste collection. The union’s concerns link employment conditions with the capacity of cities to maintain routine cleaning and waste-management services.
Srinivas urged the government to address the demands quickly and warned that the union would organise protests across the state if they were not met. The report did not specify a date, location or format for the proposed protests.
Union president Gangadhar Somaghatta and office-bearers Bhagwanath Chandranna, R.M. Subbarayudu, A.P. Rajashekar, Suresh, Lokesh and Beguru Muniraju were also present at the press conference. The next step announced by the union is to decide on statewide protests if the demands are not fulfilled.
