A BJP leader has called for a civic worker to be appointed in 2024 to inaugurate the Mysuru Dasara celebration so that sanitation workers will receive the honours of being able to clean the city and keep it clean and clean.
The suggestion comes as the role of pourakarmikas, or municipal sanitation workers, whose daily responsibilities are sweeping roads, collecting waste, clearing drains and maintaining public spaces.
Mysuru Dasara is one of Karnataka’s top cultural festivals and usually has people from various parts of society come to inaugurate it. Writers, political leaders, spiritual people and other prominent people have been associated with the opening ceremony for many years.
The notion to honor a civic worker is in line with calls for more recognition of those working behind the scenes to keep cities running. Sanitation workers typically perform their jobs early in the morning and in difficult conditions particularly during big public events where cleanliness is even more important.
We have seen the issue of recognizing pourakarmikas during Dasara in the past. In 2020, a civic worker Maragamma was among the COVID-19 front line workers at the Mysuru Dasara inauguration. At the time, the government honored several of its frontline workers for their work during the pandemic.
Such a proposal was also reported in 2017, when a pourakarmika leader suggested that a sanitation worker should inaugurate Dasara, arguing that civic workers played an important role in maintaining Mysuru's cleanliness.
More recently, in August 2026, Congress MLC B.S. Shivanna also urged the Karnataka government to consider a pourakarmika for the inauguration of this year's Mysuru Dasara.
He said that sanitation workers are important players in public health and civic life, and that recognising one of them would send a message about dignity of labour and social inclusion.
The latest BJP leader’s suggestion therefore adds to a broader discussion about giving sanitation workers a more prominent place in public celebrations. Rather than just giving awards or felicitations, the proposal would place a civic worker at the centre of one of Karnataka’s biggest cultural events.
The Mysuru Dasara festival is celebrated at Navaratri time and the inauguration takes place at Chamundi Hill. Visitors from India come to the festival from all parts of the state of Karnataka and other parts of the country, a big ceremonial decision on the inauguration of the inaugurator.
If the proposal is considered for next year's celebrations, the selection of a civic worker could provide a public platform to recognise the contribution of thousands of sanitation workers who help maintain cities throughout the year.
