PCMC: Municipal Corporation Employees Federation opposes the new insurance policy

Mehab Qureshi

Pimpri, June 27, 2020: The Municipal Corporation Employees Federation at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation have opposed the newly introduced insurance scheme stating that no new scheme should be brought in until the pandemic is brought under control.

The Dhanvantari scheme already existed as reimbursement of health expenses for the Municipal Corporation employees. Still, the Corporation issued a tender to purchase a new group insurance policy through an insurance agency KM Dastoor.

The policy will be purchased for Rs 31 crore from New India Insurance. However, the corporation workers’ federation opposed this and demanded that the Dhanvantari scheme be continued. According to them, the insurance policy should not be purchased until the pandemic is brought under control.

The union is of the view that the policy will not be of full benefit to the employees as the administration is working for the insurance agent company’s benefit. Also, there is a big difference between the insurance policy amount and the expenses incurred from the Dhanvantari scheme.

Moreover, the Union is of the view that the insurance policy should be purchased by showing the difference between the insurance policy and Dhanvantari Yojana with a comparative table. The decision should be taken with the approval of the Corporation Employees Federation.

On June 4, MLA Anna Bansode had given a presentation to the Municipal Commissioner in this regard. In this connection, a meeting was recently held in the office of PCMC Commissioner Hardikar. An attempt was made by the insurance agency to convince them of the benefits of the policy. However, the federation representatives said that taking the policy would create a problem for the employees.

While the federation appeared to be adamant about continuing the Dhanvantari scheme as a whole. A representative of the agent insurance company also mentioned that the Dhanvantari scheme was good and that the policy was useful. Bansode said that a proper scheme should be implemented for reimbursement of medical expenses for Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation staff. A total of 7,500 Municipal Corporation employees pay Rs 300 for reimbursement of medical costs while 150 retired employees pay Rs 150 each. About Rs 10 crores are collected from the staff subscription, while the Corporation has spent an average of Rs 17 crore on the Dhanvantari scheme.

Bansode, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar had attended the meeting along with, Additional Commissioner Santosh Patil, Employees Federation President Amber Chinchawde, members Suresh Gargote, Avinash Dhamale, Balasaheb Kapse, Supriya Surgude, Yogesh Rasal, Yogesh Vanjari and officials from insurance agent company.