British-era duty hours to end

Mumbai: The British-era working hours in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon cease to exist. Taking into account city’s changed lifestyle, the civic body has decided to do away with more than 100-year old work timings for its employees and will implement a new schedule for them. Instead of break-duty, the employees will have a straight hours duty.

As per the new changes, the duty hours of superior staff like clerks, engineers, inspectors and etc will now be straight seven hours – from 10 am to 5 pm, whereas that of labourers (conservancy, water supply) will be of eight hours – from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. These timings will be applicable for ward-level employees, especially for those who work outdoors, from next month.

Till now, the ward-level employees were having a break-duty, which has been prevailing ever since the British Raj. Despite having eight hours duty, they had to spend close 10 to 11 hours at the civic offices due to the old schedule. The working hours for labourers, which used to start at 7 am, would continue till 5.30 pm with a gap of two and half hours in between. It means they would work from 7 am to 11 am and then wait for another 2.30 hours to resume the second part of their duty from 1.30 am to 5.30 pm. The same went for the senior staff, who started their day at 8 am and finished at 5.30 pm.

A senior civic official said, “These timings were decided taking into account the public convenience during old days. There was a break so that employees can carry out other works in between. But now there is no such need. With online facilities available everywhere, they can now carry out these works anytime.”

“We have accepted BMC’s proposal to change duty hours provided whatever benefits available to employees should not be discontinued,” said Prakash Devdas, general secretary of Mumbai Municipal Subordinate Staff Union. “They get offs on second and fourth Saturdays and the concession should not be withdrawn.”

Sudhir Naik, deputy municipal commissioner (general administration) said, “The change in timings will be beneficial for civic employees. As far as the issue of offs on second and fourth Saturdays are concerned, it will be sorted out amicably.”