Civic services hit today: BBMP and 9 other city workers protest with 10 demands at Freedom Park

Civic services across Karnataka face major disruption today as municipal employees from 10 major city corporations, including BBMP, stage a statewide protest demanding redressal of long-standing grievances. At the heart of the protest is a pushback against the controversial LOGSAFE attendance system, staffing shortages, work pressure, and lack of basic employee benefits.

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Municipal workers from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), along with those from Hubballi-Dharwad, Tumakuru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Davanagere, Mysuru, Belagavi, Ballari, and Vijayapura have declared a mass casual leave and are gathering at Freedom Park, Bengaluru at 11 AM. The protest is expected to paralyse key civic operations including garbage collection, administrative work, and maintenance.

The protestors have outlined 10 key demands. Chief among them is the scrapping of the LOGSAFE biometric attendance system, which they argue is technically flawed and creates unnecessary stress among field staff. The unions are also demanding that the over 6,000 vacant positions across BBMP wards be filled immediately, to reduce the disproportionate workload on existing employees.

Another major demand is to ease departmental pressure on school headmasters under the civic education wing and ensure timely promotions for engineers and assistant engineers, which have reportedly been delayed for years. Protesters also want health insurance coverage for all civic workers, and the finalisation of a seniority list that has been in limbo.

Additional demands include revoking the e-Khata system and restoring the earlier manual process, granting license rights to health supervisors, and removing allegedly illegal “marshal” posts, which workers say were created without proper approval.

With 10 major city corporations participating, civic operations in several regions may come to a standstill. Protestors argue that despite repeated representations, the government has not responded meaningfully, forcing workers to take to the streets.