Mangalore, July 20: Civic workers of Mangalore City Corporation on Wednesday staged a semi-nude protest demonstration in the city seeking fulfillment of their various demands including regularisation of their services.
Over a hundred Pourakarmikas, both men and women, under the banner of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Pourakarmikara Hagu Nalkane Darje Naukarara Sangha, took out a rally from Jyothi Circle and marched towards MCC via KS Rao Road, after a stopover in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner.
The protesters raised slogans against the MCC and State Government for their 'continued negligence' towards civic workers, who have been waiting for the regularisation of their service for more than a decade.
Speaking on the occasion, Honorary President of Sangha, Shivappa said that they have been compelled to stage a semi-nude protest to send a message to the administration, which has completely failed to address the woes of paurakarmikas.
He said that the Sangha, that has been in the forefront of organising various kinds of protests to have their demands met, has been appealing the government for the past one decade to address the woes of the daily wage workers, who do not have any other source of income.
"However, our repeated appeals fall on deaf ears of politicians and authorities and our prolonged struggle proved to be futile,” he lamented.
He reminded that paurakarmikas have been endangering their lives for cleaning the city without any protective gear, hand glows and shoes.
Currently, around 126 pourakarmikas are working on a daily wage basis with the civic body for the past decade or more.
The main demands of the protesters include regularisation of those who civic workers, who have been serving for 10 to 15 years, free health cards for all civic workers under MCC and free education for the children of civic workers etc.
The protesters submitted memorandum containing their demands, to Deputy Commissioner, MCC Commissioner and Assistant Labour Commissioner.
Comments
Add new comment