Good news! BEST employees will finally get their salaries on time

Staffers of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking will finally start getting their salaries on time. The civic body has decided to relax loan repayment norms, after the Undertaking's general manager wrote to it about the same.

The BMC yesterday cleared a proposal in the Standing Committee under which BEST can now repay its loan instalments in the last week of the month (i.e. after 20th) instead of the first.

The Undertaking pays Rs 40.58 crore as instalment every 1st of the month. In 2013, following its financial crisis, the BMC had given it Rs 1,600 crore loan at an interest rate of 10 per cent. Its financial woes had led to inconsistent payment of salaries to its 40,000-odd employees, who had then gone on strike recently, demanding on-time pay, merging of BEST budget with BMC, and regular financial help from the civic body.

As per the loan agreement of 2013 between both organisations, BEST had created an escrow account with ICICI Bank to transfer the loan instalment. An escrow account is a temporary channel held by a third party for the process of a transaction between two parties.

Opposition leader and Congress corporator Ravi Raja said, "I had been following up on the issue for long. Finally, the BMC has accepted our demand, which will give relief to BEST staffers."

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