BBMP takes cooperatives route to loosen stranglehold of contractors

Saturday, 03 June 2017 00:00 administrator
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The Hindu       03.06.2017 

BBMP takes cooperatives route to loosen stranglehold of contractors

Empowering them:Pourakarmikas will be the only members of the BBMP Link Workers Cooperative Societies.  

Civic body also hopes to eliminate another problem: Inflating the number of pourakarmikas

In an attempt to eliminate the problem of contractor mafia and the duplication of pourkarmikas’ names, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is experimenting with forming cooperatives of solid waste management (SWM) workers at the ward levels and contracting work to them instead of contractors.

The pilot project is set to take off in 15 wards in Byatarayanapura and Sarvagna Nagar, the neighbouring Assembly constituencies of north and east Bengaluru represented by Ministers Krishna Byre Gowda and K.J. George respectively. Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, SWM, BBMP, said that the bylaws for the societies, and drafts of MoUs between the civic body and the proposed societies were ready. Detailed proposals from five wards of Sarvagna Nagar were ready and proposals from other wards would be ready in a week, he added.

These co-operatives called ‘BBMP Link Workers Cooperative Society’ will have pourakarmikas – sweepers and garbage collectors presently working under contractors in the particular ward – as the only members. While the president and other office bearers will be elected from among the pourakarmikas, the BBMP will appoint an assistant executive engineer rank official as the CEO of each society. BBMP will henceforth pay their salaries to the society which will in turn disburse the same to the members, according to the bylaws, a copy of which is available with The Hindu .

The bylaws also provide for a board of management with a total of 16 members. Three of these, a BBMP chief engineer, a master trainer in waste management and a representative from Residents’ Welfare Association, will be invited. However, they will have no voting rights or profit shares. The board will have a term of five years. The office, furniture and operational costs will be borne by BBMP. The society will also have an advisory board to be headed by the ward councillor and the ward committee.

N.S. Ramakanth, SWM Expert Committee, BBMP, said the cooperative society was one of the best models to eliminate the contractor mafia in garbage management. “Today, the entire city is at the mercy of the contractors. They have even boycotted the new garbage tenders and forced the BBMP to pay them arbitrarily. The cooperative model will eliminate them,” he said, and added that the scheme will empower pourakarmikas, who are expected to face resistance from the councillors.

However, the pourakarmika unions are cautious. Vinay Sreenivasa, BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Union, said their demand for regularisation of all contract pourakarmikas that even the State cabinet decided on would not be diluted. “In the cooperative societies, BBMP will pay to the society instead of directly to the pourakarmikas. In the event of any issues within the society, BBMP may shirk responsibility,” he said, and added that the civic body should hold wide-ranging consultations with all the pourakarmika unions over the issue.