The committee passed the proposal to wet-lease buses, but complained about delay in payment of salaries and criticized the plan to recover Diwali bonus from staffers in installments
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport committee on Monday accepted all the measures suggested by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to recover its financial health, but came down heavily against the administration. After months of deliberation, the committee passed the proposal to wet-lease buses, but complained about delay in payment of salaries and criticized the plan to recover Diwali bonus from staffers in installments.
"The BMC has money to spend on four penguins for which crores have been spent. But they cannot give away a grant of Rs 21 crore to the poor employees of BEST," said Sunil Ganacharya, BEST committee member. The BEST employees had received Rs 5,500 each as Diwali bonus last year. The administration, in December, had threatened to deduct Rs 500 every month from salaries of over 40,000 employees if the measures suggested by BMC Commissioner were not implemented. The measures included wet-leasing 225 buses for a period of seven years. Wet-leasing is a process where the contractor is responsible for the drives and maintenance of the vehicles.
Though the administration had later decided to postpone the decision, some staffers said the BEST had already issued salary slips with Rs 500 deductions. "This is the worst ever in the history of BEST. The administration threatened to deduct salaries of their employees unless we did not approve their demand of introducing buses on wet-lease," said Ravi Raja, member, BEST Committee.
On February 12, the BEST committee finally approved the proposal to wet-lease buses after which the administration promised them that the bonus amount wouldn't be deducted from salaries. "By February 15, the employees will get their salaries and no money shall be deducted," promised Surendra Bagde, General Manager, BEST.
The committee has asked the administration to make sure that the sons-of-the-soil be given jobs when the wet-lease was implemented. They have also said that the administration must ensure timely payment of salaries to the employees and a transparent process to fill vacant posts in the organization.
Last year, the BEST employees had gone on a protest against the administration as they hadn't paid them Diwali bonus. The administration had then claimed that they had a Rs 880-crore loss on their head and so they could not pay the bonuses. Finally, the BMC had intervened and given Rs 21 crore to BEST to pay Rs 5,500 bonus each to the employees. However, the civic body had said that BEST would have to return the money if they did not implement measures suggested by BMC Commissioner to improve its financial health.
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