In order to ensure that the Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan turns out to be an effective campaign, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been carrying out cleanliness drives at its own offices first.
The drive, however, has been receiving poor response from its staffers with the employees complaining that the schedule of the drive is inconvenient for them.
The BMC has been organising cleanliness drive for its staff on Fridays between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, that is, after the working hours. For the public, drive is arranged on Saturdays every week across 227 wards.
In a letter written to civic chief Sitaram Kunte on Monday, the Maharashtra Navnirman Mahapalika Karmachari Sena, a union of Raj Thackeray-led MNS, has demanded that the schedule be changed so civic staffers, especially women employees, can reach home 'on time'.
"The staffers reach late even if they leave offices at 5.30pm. If something goes wrong, they reach home later. In such a case, it is even more inconvenient for staffers to participate in the drive and leave offices by 7.30pm. This is very tiring, especially for women staffers, who have to perform daily chores after reaching home," complained Dilip Naik, president of the union.
Naik alleged the BMC of not providing staff the equipment like hand gloves, masks, etc, required carry out the drives. "Also, it is being observed that officials up to the rank of heads of the departments or assistant municipal commissioners only are taking part in the drive. It can't be understood if officials higher in the hierarchy have been given relief to not participate in the drive," Naik doubted. When asked, a senior civic official, requesting anonymity, said, "We can't ask employees to work in the middle of the working hours. That will be inconvenient for the system. Also, if we are not going to take the drive seriously at our offices, it will send wrong signal amongst public. Anyways, let the civic chief decide what is to be done in this case."
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