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Journalism of Courage
PUNE, Sept 29: In contravention of the State Government directive, the standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation today approved the payment of an all-time high bonus and ex-gratia for over 10,000 employees of the Pune Municipal Transport and school board.
Bringing 7,500 employees of the PMT and 3,000 employees of the school board on par with the PMC employees, the standing committee approved 8.33 per cent bonus and Rs 2,750 ex-gratia, fulfilling their long-pending demand, chairman Ramesh Bodke told media persons.
According to the Government directive of July 14, the ex-gratia amount should not exceed Rs 2,500.
While the Municipal Commissioner Rajiv Agarwal said that the decision will be implemented only if the State Government approves it, the standing committee chairman along with others will meet the Chief Minister in the first week of October pressing for the same.
Employees of the PMT and PMC school board who staged day-long demonstrations outside the PMC were assured by the standing committee and the party leaders in the corporation that their pending demand would be conceded. As per the decision, school board employees will receive an ex-gratia of Rs 85 lakh as against Rs 20 lakh paid last year, marking an increase of Rs 65 lakh. The bonus is fixed at Rs 1.25 crore.
The PMT employees will receive an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1.93 crore as against Rs 1.15 crore last year, marking an increase of Rs 78 lakh. The bonus is fixed at Rs 1.85 crore. Incidentally, the PMC will as per the decision taken last week also have to cough up an additional Rs 1.90 crore to pay the ex-gratia amount to its 15,000-odd employees. Last year an amount of Rs 8 crore was paid.
