BBMP, 9 other municipal staff to go on mass leave

Bengaluru: Employees of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) along with staff from nine other municipal corporations across Karnataka have announced that they will go on mass leave on Tuesday, July 8, to press for the fulfilment of various long-pending demands. The employees have decided to gather at Freedom Park in Bengaluru to stage a massive protest.

The protesting staff allege that more than 6,000 posts of officers and other employees across various departments in BBMP alone are lying vacant. Due to this, the existing staff are forced to work under tremendous pressure, often managing additional workloads without adequate manpower.

In addition, employees have complained that many staff members have been suspended without any prior notice. Several appeals to withdraw such suspensions have gone unanswered, pushing the staff unions to resort to collective action. The protestors have put forth a charter of demands, including the immediate withdrawal of the Logsafe attendance system, which they claim is impractical for non-executive staff like officers, clerks, gardeners, and gangmen. They want BBMP to scrap this system and revert to a simpler attendance process.

One of the main demands is the immediate filling up of more than 6,000 vacant posts across BBMP’s 225 wards to ease the workload on current employees.They have also asked the civic body to stop what they allege are illegal departmental inquiries against BBMP’s school principals and headmasters for minor issues under the guise of dereliction of duty.

Another demand is that the post of Special Commissioner (Administration) should remain independent and not be attached to any other zone. They want the Special Commissioner (Administration) and Deputy Commissioners (Administration) to strictly follow the powers delegated to them and not dilute the responsibilities of the Chief Commissioner. The employees are also demanding immediate promotions for Assistant Executive Engineers to the post of Executive Engineers and for Executive Engineers to be promoted to Superintending Engineers without delay. Further, they have urged the BBMP to continue its revenue services—such as khata transfers, registrations, bifurcations, and amalgamations—under the e-Aasthi system according to existing norms, without unnecessary changes.

The unions want all officers and staff deputed illegally on loan service to be sent back to their parent departments immediately. They have demanded timely promotions for all eligible staff across cadres and extension of state government health schemes and medical benefits to BBMP employees as well.

Additionally, the service seniority list of all officers and employees must be finalized and published without delay. The protestors have also raised the issue of health supervisors in BBMP’s health department. These ‘B’ group officers should be given necessary user ID and password access for licensing duties, they say.

They have also demanded the immediate scrapping of the posts of marshals appointed illegally within BBMP limits. Apart from BBMP staff in Bengaluru, employees of Hubballi-Dharwad, Tumakuru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Davanagere, Mysuru and Belagavi municipal corporations have also extended their support and will join the mass leave and protest.

Employee unions have warned that if their demands are not met, they will intensify the agitation in the coming days, potentially affecting civic administration in multiple cities across the state.