Many BMC employees complained that this year they would be drafted for both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation employees, who were deployed on poll duties during the 2017 BMC elections, are yet to get their remuneration. Nearly 4,300 employees are entitled to approximately Rs 6.5 crore as remuneration for election duty. In the last two years, despite several requests from the affected employees, the civic administration has not cleared the dues.
According to a BMC source, 4,300 employees from the BMC and some from the state government were deployed on duty during the civic polls two years ago. “As per rule, this is additional work and separate from routine duties, so it has to be remunerated. The remuneration comprises basic and HRA components of the salary of respective employees. Despite several requests, nothing has happened,” said the source.
An official from the BMC said, “We had to work hard. Several times, we had to work till late in the night. Now, the model code of conduct is in force and many of us have again been selected for the Lok Sabha election duty. This is a thankless job, and not getting remuneration on time is discouraging those who had earlier taken part in the elections.”
Many BMC employees complained that this year they would be drafted for both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. “This is an additional work load. We work for over 12 hours for election-related preparations. After that, we have to finish all the pending work of the department,” said an official.
According to sources, the file related to the pending dues is with Vijay Singhal, Additional Municipal Commissioner, in-charge of election department. Recently, former Congress minister, Varsha Gaikwad, has written to Singhal asking to clear the remuneration amount as soon as possible. After this there was some movement, but nothing has happened so far.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Singhal denied that the file is pending with him and said, “There was some query on this. I will check with the department about what further has happened. But nothing (file regarding dues) is pending with me. Why should I keep this with me. If they were involved in election duty, then they should be given their dues.”
Meanwhile, for the Lok Sabha election-related poll preparation, more than 11,000 BMC employees from various departments will be on election duty. This could affect functioning of the BMC as well as people-related services as manpower in many departments will reduce.
