CH NEWS, RAMANAGARA
Over two hundred outsourced rehabilitation workers launched an indefinite sit-in protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday, demanding permanent government service and better welfare security.
Organized under the New Karnataka Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Workers Association, demonstrators took out a rally from the district sports stadium through major city streets before gathering at the administrative headquarters. The protesters urged the government to treat the 6,022 disabled workers serving across the state for the past nineteen years as a special case and regularize their positions immediately.
Protest leaders insisted that pending formal regularization, the government must substantially revise their monthly honorarium, ensure statutory minimum wages, and provide social security coverage. They asked the administration to hold direct consultations and release a transparent, time-bound roadmap for service absorption. Leveraging the extensive grassroots experience of these workers, they noted, is essential to successfully implement welfare outreach right at the doorsteps of disabled citizens.
The agitators also demanded official approval to hire staff for newly formed taluks, an increase in monthly disability pensions to 5,000 rupees, and the swift release of allowances withheld over the past six months. Furthermore, they demanded statewide free bus passes, political reservation in state legislative assemblies, and prompt recruitment drives to fill long-pending backlog job quotas for educated disabled youth across government departments.
Association state president Fakir Gowda Patil, coordinator Anil K., and district leader Shabarish led the demonstration alongside key regional delegates. The workers declared that their demonstration will continue indefinitely until the state government issues concrete written assurances addressing their urgent livelihood concerns.
