ESI, PF benefits elude many pourakarmikas

Many pourakarmikas of the Bruhat Bengaluru Manahanagara Palike, apart from being not paid, have also been denied Employee State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund (PF) benefits, it appears.
Owing to large-scale misappropriation and bogus names on the rolls of garbage contractors, the BBMP officials are now finding that ESI and PF benefits have not reached many pourakarmikas.
Maithreyi from the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha said the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Bengaluru, had ruled that BBMP was covered under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, only from January 2011.
The department had also recently stated that the BBMP owed ₹90.18 crore for the period between January 2011 and July 2017.
“Though the previous agreements with the garbage contractors mandated payment of ESI and PF, the pourakarmikas who have been with the BBMP for many years have clearly got a raw deal. The contractors have even deducted the amount from the salaries of the pourakarmikas,” she said. She also said the sangha had filed a complaint with the Regional PF Commissioner, urging the department to direct the BBMP to fulfil its role as a principal employer and make the remittance of the workers’ and BBMP’s contributions for PF for every contract pourakarmika itself.
Source: The Hindu