BMC staff in holiday mood; nearly 30% bunk work on Tuesday

Not just the citizens, but even civic employees are in holiday mood, with many of them not turning for work as New Year's Eve approaches.

The BMC has around 1.20 lakh employees working at its headquarters in south Mumbai as well as in the 24 ward offices. The headquarters alone has around 2,000 employees.

On Tuesday, most of the offices, barring municipal auditor's and those of additional municipal commissioners, wore a barren look with a majority of staffers bunking work. "This has been the case every year. Employees have their leaves pending, which they use during the last week of December. This leads to rise in workload on those who work during year-end. There is no integrated record of how many staffers were present as such record is kept only when employees go on strike. But roughly, close to 30% were absent on Tuesday," an official said.

He also said it is not just people who face inconvenience but also the on-duty staffers. "I have turned up for work. If my colleagues don't attend office, it obviously puts a strain on me. But then, it is a matter of two-three days, we have to adjust," he added.

Besides employees, business at offices of political parties, including that of standing committee chairman (Yashodhar Phanase), on the first floor of the annex building at the headquarters, too had slowed down.
Despite repeated attempts, Phanase could not be reached for his version.

Meanwhile, visitors to the building were surprised to see so many employees bunking work. "I had come to the civic headquarters to lodge complaints regarding a couple of issues. I was surprised to see so many vacant chairs... My issues can wait a day or two, but what about those people who need immediate attention to their complaints?" asked Arun Awghade, a Mankhurd resident.