Bengaluru’s garbage crisis has deepened after waste-collection contractors decided to suspend services and the Karnataka Urban Development Department imposed the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) for one year to prevent a strike across the city’s waste-management system.
The ESMA order took effect from October 24 and prohibits strikes for the next year by civic workers, auto assistants, compactor-loader operators and drivers working directly with or under suppliers and contractors engaged by the Greater Bengaluru Authority, Bengaluru Waste Management Limited and the five planned city corporations. The order cites the need to protect sanitation and prevent risks to public health.
The move came as waste remained uncleared on several roads and footpaths after Ayudha Puja and Vijayadashami. Banana stems, pumpkins, flowers and other festival waste were still lying in parts of the city, while residents in areas including Nayandahalli, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Pattanagere and Kenchenahalli reportedly faced missed door-to-door collection. Waste had also not been cleared before and after Vijayadashami in K.R. Market and Avenue Road.
Supervisors involved in collection attributed the disruption to a shortage of autos. Contractors, however, said their dispute with officials had been continuing for several months and had now intensified. They said most collection autos could stay away from work from October 26.
The Bengaluru Mahanagara Swachhate and Lorry Owners’ and Contractors’ Association said its protest was not against the government but against what it described as neglect by some officials. Association general secretary S.N. Balasubramaniam said contractors had met the Bengaluru Development Minister and submitted representations, but had not received a solution. He also said repeated attempts to raise the issue with the Chief Secretary, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department and the managing director of Bengaluru Waste Management Limited had not produced results.
The contractors’ concerns include the implementation of a wage revision ordered by the Labour Department from May 22. They said failing to apply the revised wages had increased their responsibility for Employees’ State Insurance and Employees’ Provident Fund contributions, as well as penalties and interest after notices from labour, provident fund and health insurance authorities.
Fuel costs are another major point of contention. Contractors said the diesel rate fixed at ₹66 during 2017-18 had not been revised, even though the current rate was ₹98.80 a litre, creating an additional cost of ₹32.80 per litre. They also alleged that payments for monthly bills required 25 to 30 days of repeated follow-up and that the annual variable dearness allowance revision had not been implemented.
The source reported that Greater Bengaluru Authority Chief Commissioner and Bengaluru Waste Management Limited managing director Maheshwar Rao did not respond to requests for comment. The ESMA order refers to the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, under which civic bodies are responsible for waste management, collection, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal within their jurisdictions.
The order applies across the Greater Bengaluru Authority area and the jurisdictions of Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru East and Bengaluru West city corporations. The immediate issue now is whether the ESMA order will prevent a wider stoppage while the unresolved contractor claims over wages, fuel rates, statutory contributions and payment delays remain under discussion.
