Mid-day meal contractors to BMC: Pay dues before Diwali

I haven’t received my dues since January despite completion of all the required paperwork. CHEMBUR-BASED CONTRACTOR

MUMBAI: Contractors supplying mid-day meals to civic-run schools alleged that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not paid them their dues over the last several months.

In the last week, several of these contractors have been meeting BMC officials. The contractors asked the BMC officials to release their pending dues before Diwali.

The BMC claimed the delay occurred owing to new guidelines issued by the state and that the contractors will get their pending dues in two days.

Contractors said that they are struggling to make their ends meet ahead of the festive period.

An Andheri-based contractor said, “Most organisations that provide mid-day meals to schools are small self-help groups run by women from the lower income groups. If the corporation delays our payments, we have no other source of income. We are then forced to borrow money from banks and other financial lenders to continue providing our services.”

A Chembur-based contractor said that her dues were pending since the month of January.

“There is a huge paperwork involved in submitting our claims for the payments. Even after completing those formalities, the civic officials cite some or the other reason to stall our payments,” she said.

Mahesh Palkar, the civic body’s education officer, said the delay is due to a newly-introduced money transfer system, issued as per the state government guidelines.

“Earlier, contractors would get their dues in their bank accounts. However, as per a recent state government decision, the money now needs to be sent to the school’s account, from where it would be disbursed to the respective contractor by the school. The process should be completed soon and the contractors would get their dues in the next two days,” Palkar said.

There are around 300 contractors who supply food to the schools run by the civic body. Each contractor is granted a oneyear no objection certificate (NOC) for their kitchen, after which it has to be renewed on a yearly basis. The renewal of the NOC is subject to compliance with the food and fire safety norms.