Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw packs a sweet surprise for Bengaluru's civic workers

Bengaluru: Bengaluru’s 27,000 civic workers (pourakarmikas in Kannada) were in for a pleasant surprise -- a box of sweets -- when they attended work on Friday morning.

“We take them (pourakarmikas) for granted. I thought we should bring some cheer into their life,” said Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who had decided to send boxes of sweets to each one of them as a Diwali gift.

Shaw took the help of members of the Bangalore Political Action Committee, a non-partisan citizens’ grouping, as well as volunteers to distribute the gift in every ward.


In Rajajinagar area, education minister S Suresh Kumar met about 500 pourakarmikas in seven BBMP wards and personally handed over the boxes.

“I was very touched by this gesture of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. I thought the least I could do was distribute the boxes by meeting each one of the pourakarmikas. I told them that it is a Deepavali gift …and they should share it with family members, too,” he told ET.

BBMP administrator Gaurav Gupta called it a touching gesture by the Biocon founder.

"It was very nice of her to have remembered pourakarmikas. It shows her compassion for the poor and underprivileged," he said.

Leaders and workers from across the political spectrum distributed the sweet boxes in their respective areas, and some of them even put out pictures on social media thanking the Biocon chairperson.