Over one lakh corporate Mumbaikars will now have to resort to ordering food or carrying tiffins from home for a week as the iconic dabbawalas of the city are on a week's leave starting today.

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Close to 4,500 dabbawalas of the Mumbai Tiffin Carriers Association (MTA) will take their annual holiday to visit their villages on a pilgrimage. Chembur resident Paresh Bhatia, 50, who swears by the services of his dabbawala, said, "I will have to make alternate arrangements to carry my tiffin to office. My wife will have to prepare lunch early in the morning."

The diligent workers go on leave for a week to in April every year. dabbawalas belong to the Warkari sect of rural Maharashtra. Most of them hail from towns of Mulshi, Mawal, Rajgurunagar, Ambegaon and Junnar in Pune and Akola, Sangamner in Ahmednagar.

"The Tiffin Carriers Services will remain suspended for a week and inconvenience caused to our patrons is very much regretted," said Subhash Talekar, spokesperson, Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust (NMTBST).

The dabbawalas have urged their patrons not to deduct wages from their salaries. Also they said that most people in the corporate sector will be on holiday from April 2 to 5 owing to a slew of public holidays. "Most people will be on holiday for Mahavir Jayanti, Good Friday and then the weekend. Most people have a half day on Saturday. So services won't be affected much. Also we do not go to enjoy, but to perform our essential religious duties," said

Talekar. "Also schools are shut for summer vacations or exams. So most services in schools are shut anyway during this week," he added.

Close to 1.75 lakh dabbas are coded alphanumerically and delivered across Mumbai along the central, western and harbour railway lines. The tiffin services will resume on April 7.