After nearly two months of the lockdown, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has come up with the information about the number of its employees that have been tested positive for COVID-19. The BMC revealed for the first time that 1,529 staffers have tested positive and 25 have died of COVID-19 so far.
The information came after repeated demands from employees' unions regarding lack of an official database on the number of COVID-19 positive BMC employees. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the civic body has more than one lakh employees and contract workers working for it.
Talking to the media about the figures, BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal praised the employees for their efforts and promised that they would receive the benefits declared by the central and state governments and the civic body.
As per an April 17 order, the civic body had declared ₹10 lakh compensation for the family of a staffer that dies of COVID-19 while on duty but are not covered under the insurance scheme of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
The Executive President of Brihanmumbai Municipal Engineers' Union told Mid-Day that the central scheme is only for health workers. He added that the engineers and other staff members are also on COVID duty and asked whether they will receive the benefits of the central scheme. He demanded clarification from BMC and also asked for more compensation just like civic bodies in Pune and Navi Mumbai were offering ,i.e. ₹1 crore and ₹25 lakh compensation, respectively, for those who die on duty.
In other news, the BMC has gone back to its biometric attendance system which had been stopped amid the pandemic. A BMC official clarified that they will ensure that the attendance of all employees is recorded and a sanitiser will be provided near the machine.