Ammanni, a safai karmachari on contract with the BBMP for 15 years, accused BBMP authorities of dismissing her from her job when she lost sight in one eye.
She alleges that the very job she had been doing for the BBMP for 15 years was the reason why she had lost her eyesight in the first place.
Even the social benefits Ammanni was supposed to receive have gone missing.
As a government worker, Ammanni is eligible for government health care. But when she contacted an Employees' State Insurance (ESI) hospital; she was turned away as she did not have sufficient funds to pay the hospital an advance deposit.
ESI authorities say that they could not provide her any treatment as she had a 'zero balance' in her ESI account.
Strangely, a fixed amount was deducted every month from Ammanni's salary for ESI and the Provident Fund by the contractor, but the same was apparently not credited to her account.
This has left Ammanni and her family in a lurch.
Ammanni says, “Now, inevitably, I have to send my daughter for the same job, as it is a question of survival for my family and me.”
Ammanni revealed “Contractors assign us to the city’s busy traffic roads from morning till evening for cleaning streets and by-lanes. The streets are always filled with thick dust and smoke, which we regularly ingest. Our eyes, nose and ears were constantly exposed to dirt and dust as we served in unhygienic areas.”
Even though employees made repeated requests to contractors to provide eyeglasses for protection, the request was never fulfilled.
"I had severe burns on my eye and on visiting the ESI hospital, they used to administer some eye drops routinely. When we sought their referral to other hospitals for the higher treatment, they did not consider our requests.
Now I am unable to open my left eye. The main ESI hospital refuse to treat me, citing lack of funds in my ESI account. So, as I cannot recover without treatment, which I cannot afford, BBMP authorities have sacked me from the service,” said Ammanni.
Currently, Ammanni’s daughter Mangamma has been given the same job on a contract basis. There is a definite risk that she too may lose her eyesight eventually.
Mangamma remarks “I am uneducated, and I have no knowledge of other works, and I am left with no option other than continuing in this job.”
Under the circumstances, who should be held accountable for the sorry state of municipal workers like Ammanni?
The government is silent.
