BMC to pay Rs25 crore as Diwali bonus to BEST employees

Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar announced on Wednesday that fair treatment would be meted out to employees of BEST

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to give Rs25 crore to the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) for it to be distributed as a Diwali bonus of Rs 5,500 to 41,000 BEST employees. The BMC’s decision comes amid the civic administration’s firm stand that there would be no unconditional bailout for BEST from its financial crisis.

Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar announced on Wednesday that fair treatment would be meted out to employees of BEST. The question that lingers is whether or not this would be treated as repayable amount.

The mayor said, “Within the next month, BMC will meet and discuss the terms of repayment of this amount. We will try to merge the BMC and BEST budgets, and BEST employees will be considered to be at par with BMC employees. Hence, there is no question of repayment.”

Shashank Rao, leader of Bombay Worker’s Union welcomed the decision. He said “It is a good sign that BMC gave funds for the bonus to BEST employees. It is indicative that BMC is going to discuss a merger of the annual BMC budget and the BEST budget.”