Mumbai: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has announced that employees of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking will be receiving the highest-ever bonus ahead of Diwali this year.
Also present on the occasion of this announcement on Friday were Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, Deputy Mayor Suhas Wadkar, Standing Committee Chairman Yashwant Jadhav, BEST Committee Chairman Ashish Chemburkar, BEST General Manager Lokesh Chandra, Joint Commissioner (General Administration) Milind Sawant, along with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation as well as BEST officials/staff union leaders.
Last year, BEST employees received a Diwali ‘Sanugraha’ bonus of Rs 10,100 ahead of Diwali, regardless of their designation, whereas BMC employees got 15,500. In 2019, BEST workers had received Rs 9,100 each as bonuses. However, the amount was further increased this year and the officials said that it was a gift to all the BMC and BEST employees for their relentless work through the pandemic.
There are over nine lakh BMC employees and around 34,000 BEST employees.
“Amid the lockdown imposed to contain the pandemic outbreak in March, workers of the BEST undertaking remained instrumental in getting the medical staffers and emergency service providers moving. Hence the government decided to give bonuses to BEST staffers on par with BMC employees,” said senior BMC officials.
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