Bengaluru: A high drama prevailed in front of KC General Hospital on Monday when an angry group of pourakarmikas protested against the BBMP for allegedly not paying a 35-year old employee, who committed suicide.
The deceased, Srinivas S., was a resident of Muneshwara Block in Vyalikaval. He is survived by his wife and two children. He was working as a sweeper-cum-driver for a garbage collecting vehicle at the BBMP ward no 77 for the last 20 years.
Srinivas had not been paid for over a year. Earlier, he was being paid by the contractor, but recently, the BBMP took a decision to distribute salaries directly, the family said.
The Vyalikaval police said that they filed a medico-legal case after the hospital informed them about the suicide. “No BBMP officer’s name has been mentioned in the complaint. If we find any evidence, we will file a case of abetment to suicide against them,” a police officer said.
Srinivas’s wife Kavitha said, “I had approached the BBMP authorities to pay at least a month’s salary to my husband. But officials scolded me and forced me to leave the head office. He was appointed as a permanent employee of the BBMP in January, but even then his salary was not cleared. He was paid Rs 17, 700 per month.”
Members of the BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Sangha on Monday demanded a Rs 25 lakh compensation to Srinivas’s family and immediate arrest of the officials.
A statement from the Sangha stated, “The BBMP has been misinforming the public that the salaries have been paid. For the last eight months, they have been telling us that the process of verifying the actual number of pourakarmikas is on. Biometric attendance was introduced for the purpose of salaries. Even Srinivas was marking his attendance regularly. They failed to pay him and save his life.”
