The employees have cited that their salary for the month of December has not been paid yet and no clear picture is provided for working condition along with that of benefits and liabilities of the same.
While employees of Brihamumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) buses are on strike with several demands, around 250 employees who are crucial for operations of Mumbai Monorail also have threatened to give up their support to run Monorail, if their demands including immediate release of salary for the month of December along with increasing their salary are not addressed. This comes as a jolt to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) that overtook operations of Monorail from Larsen & Toubro along with Scomi Engineering by terminating its contract.
However, the employees have cited that their salary for the month of December has not been paid yet and no clear picture is provided for working condition along with that of benefits and liabilities of the same. The Monorail employees working from Wadala depot's operational control room claim that they have now written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with the MMRDA giving them an ultimatum to look into these issues.
An employee working for the Monorail operations said, "We are paid salary till November 2018 but are yet to get our salary for December from MMRDA. Also, we have not got increment from the last five years, and our salaries should be increased considering we have suffered a lot. We are awaiting a positive response from MMRDA on the same."
Dilip Kawathkar, Spokesperson MMRDA said, "We are in touch with employees and have resolved all the issues. While another MMRDA official said, "We are in touch with the employees, and we will resolve and address all their concerns. They should support us rather than writing of withdrawal of support considering now they have job security when compared with a private operator who was not paying them their salary on time. We have just taken over, and will make things run smooth."
The letter written on behalf of 250 employees of Monorail operations to MMRDA reads, "As the project is handed over and the transition period is complete, we are still unclear about our employment and job security as nothing was intimated to us in writing. We request to look into issues like that of increasing salary, claiming of gratuity amount, medical insurance facilities along with that of third-party payroll."
The letter further reads, "We request to provide a written response for all the mentioned items before Thursday, failing to which we will be forced to withdraw our support. We have worked in adverse conditions to ensure that Mumbai Monorail passenger service is not affected, and MMRDA's good name is held high. It is with a heavy heart that we will have to withdraw our support, in case our queries are not answered in written format as no one can work in an empty stomach."
Currently, the first phase of Monorail between Chembur and Wadala is operational in which around 15,000 passengers travel daily. On December 14, MMRDA took over operations of Mumbai Monorail terminating contract of its operator LTSE citing larger public interest.
KEY FACTORS
- Currently, the first phase of Monorail between Chembur and Wadala is operational in which around 15,000 passengers travel daily
- On December 14, MMRDA took over Monorail’s operations terminating contract of its operator LTSE
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