The Bombay High Court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file a reply to a plea stating that the corporation is not providing health insurance or paying around 3,000 community health workers their daily allowance.
Justice B.P. Colabawalla was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by Mahapalika Arogya Seva Karmachari Sanghatana, an organisation representing community health workers.
The petition alleged that the BMC is discriminating against them by not extending the benefits of insurance and daily allowance, which have been provided to civic employees involved in battling COVID-19.
It also said health workers should be deemed employees of the corporation, because they were being paid according to standards of permanent employees under an industrial court order in 2015.
Advocate Vidula Patil, appearing for the health workers, told the court that following the COVID-19 outbreak, the BMC had made it mandatory for all civic employees to work to contain the pandemic. And since health workers were deemed to be on par with the BMC employees, they too have undertaken their duty.
While the BMC pays its employees a daily allowance of ₹300, this was not given to the health workers. The corporation did not extend the benefit of ₹50 lakh insurance to them either, the petition claimed.
The court has directed the BMC to file a reply after senior counsel Anil Sakhare, appearing for the civic body, sought time to reply. The petition will now be heard after two weeks.
