With several service sectors resuming operations in full scale, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced discontinuation of daily allowance, which it has been giving to its employees for the past nine months.
In an official circular issued by the civic body on the last week of December it stated that January onwards, the employees won't get the special allowance of Rs 300.
"Since June 15 trains have started to operate and hotels, canteens and eateries have also resumed operation post October. These developments have easily solved the problems of food and commuting which is why the administration has decided to discontinue the daily allowance payment" read the circular.
The sudden discontinuation of the allowance left the civic workers upset.
"From stations we don't have any last mile connectivity as sharing auto services have still not resumed, taking an auto daily is costing us a lot of money" a civic worker told FPJ.
"Instead of paying Rs 300 daily it could pay something between Rs 2,000-3,500 every month, as a lot of people who come from satelite cities still has to face hardships" said another worker.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Mahanagarpalika Karyaleen Karmchari Sangathana (MMKKS) has written to the civic chief seeking withdrawal of the order.
"The civic body has offered to pay us the allowances till March withdrawing this suddenly is absolutely unfair" said the letter.
In order to boost the morale of the frontline workers amid the pandemic outbreak, the BMC was paying an additional Rs 300 allowance daily to its employees since April. During the lockdown period, many employees had to travel to Mumbai regularly from the suburban belts and satellite districts via special vehicles run by the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking and state owned MSRTC.
As a result of the lockdown, canteens and hotels also ceased to operate which is why the civic body had been paying its employees the daily wages to help them cope up with additional cost of transportation and food.