MUMBAI: Actress Madhavi Juvekar, a BEST employee, and six other staffers have been dismissed from service almost a year after a video of her dancing at a Dussehra party went viral. The video showed some others showering cash in the air.
Sources in BEST said a three-member panel indicted the staffers last weekend and recommended to the management to dismiss the seven staffers. Besides, seven other staffers, who were also seen in the video, have been punished with reduction in grade pay, the sources said.
The dismissal has created discontent among a section of staffers who plan to oppose the move. An employee who refused to be named said that the dismissed employees may file an appeal against the directive.
BEST committee chairman Ashish Chemburkar, who is from
Shiv Sena, said he was "not happy" with the decision as the punishment is "too harsh". "When the video had gone viral last year after the Dussehra party at
Wadala bus depot, there was a lot of pressure on BEST's general manager to order an inquiry... I am not justifying the dance incident, but I feel the punishment should be less severe. Those dismissed should be taken back into service," he said.
Those dismissed were unavailable for comment. In a TV channel interview, Juvekar had said there was nothing wrong with the video and the issue was "blown out of proportion". "The notes in the video are fake, something you get in children's bank. We bought the fake notes with our money, not BEST money," she had told the channel.
