At a time when BMC’s financial condition is crippling due to large-scale projects across Mumbai, the Municipal Union Federation has demanded a whopping Diwali bonus of Rs 50,000 per employee this year. The BMC has a total of around 1.15 lakh employees, including the contractual staff. Last Diwali, the employees had received a whopping bonus of Rs 30,000.
“The federation, on behalf of all recognised BMC Unions, has asked for a Rs 50,000 bonus to be deposited by the Diwali festival. BMC has 95,000 full-time employees. Including the contractual workers, the total number reaches around 1.15 lakh. All civic staff were active 24/7, and they have worked extraordinarily during COVID-19 and last year’s state and national elections,” said union leader Prakash Devdas, who has written the letter to the BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. However, Devdas said the federation is open for negotiations.
The demand for the Rs 20,000 hike from the last Diwali bonus comes at a time when BMC’s fixed deposits are decreasing. An RTI query has revealed that the fixed deposits (FDs) of the BMC, the richest civic body in India, have declined by Rs 12,192 crores over the past four years. In 2021-2022, the BMC held Rs 91,690 crore in FDs. That amount has since decreased to Rs 79,498 crore.
