Ragpickers living near Vrishabhavathi River have not been recognized by BBMP yet.
Bengaluru: Ragpickers living in tents near Vrishabhavathi River have lost hope in getting recognized by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Krishna, a rag picker, said that BBMP officials visited them, took pictures and videos pertaining to their problems. However, no help reached them. This is because they don’t have any identity cards or ration cards through which they can avail benefits.
In 2011, BBMP initiated a program to issue numbered identification cards to rag pickers. The project was initiated to legitimize and recognize the work of rag pickers and to protect them from police harassment. In 2011 itself, BBMP identified 6,000 rag pickers with the help of Scrap Dealers, Resident Welfare Association, health inspectors or BBMP AEE and provided them identification cards. However, many are still waiting to be recognized.
BBMP Joint Commissioner, Sarfaraz Khan said that since the commencement of the program, around 8,000 rag pickers have been identified and issued identification cards.
