BMC sweeps out staff mediclaim, oppn up in arms

MUMBAI: The opposition staged a walkout from the civic standing committee's Wednesday meeting after the BMC discontinued its group health insurance policy for its employees, who number over one lakh.
BMC opposition leader Ravi Raja said that the decision had caused severe inconvenience to many. On Wednesday, as the standing committee's meeting began, corporators from the Congress, the NCP and Samajwadi Party held banners proclaiming their opposition to the scrapping of the health insurance policy.

BMC employees were covered under the group policy till July last year. The civic body was paying the insurance company around Rs 117 crore. Civic officials said they were forced to discontinue the policy after the insurance company hiked its rate to Rs 142 crore.

"The BMC discontinued the policy last July without even thinking what would happen to those who need health insurance till a new policy was drawn up. This is unacceptable," said Raja.

Samajwadi Party leader in the BMC house Rais Shaikh said the process of putting in place a new health insurance policy for employees is lengthy and employees would unnecessarily face hassles during that period.

The BMC administration said the formalities for getting a new policy were underway. Additional municipal commissioner A Jarhad said, "We are looking at getting a holistic long-term policy. There were some faults with the earlier policy. The new policy would soon be tabled for approval."

The opposition staged a walkout as it was unconvinced about the administration's explanation.