Navi Mumbai civic body extends Diwali ex gratia of Rs 45,000 to retired staff and families of the deceased

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to widen the scope of the ex gratia grant paid at Diwali. The decision was taken at the general body meeting held in November. A grant of Rs 45,000 per person for officers, employees, teachers and ASHA volunteers had already been approved. More categories of staff have now been added, and eligible people will receive the full Rs 45,000.

Under the new decision, accountant-cum-data entry operators working on an outsourced basis under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) at the urban health centres in the city's eight wards will benefit. Retired employees, employees who took voluntary retirement and the families of deceased employees will also be covered.

Security guards working through the Security Board will also benefit, as will contract employees who meet certain conditions. At the November general body meeting, Leader of the House Sagar Naik moved an urgent proposal and presented a notice of amendment. This cleared the way for the grant to the employees.

The matter had been raised on the basis of the notice of Sagar Naik's proposal at the corporation's general body meeting on November 2, 2026. A proposal to give Rs 45,000 for Diwali to officers, employees, teachers and ASHA volunteers had already been passed. However, a demand was made to widen the scope so that some other categories of staff working in different departments of the corporation are not left out.

Eligibility will be verified before the grant is distributed. The departments concerned have been made responsible for checking the records of service period, appointment, retirement or death of eligible employees. The appointment of security staff, the bonus received from the Security Board and the bonus provisions in service-based contracts will also be examined.

Instructions have been given to certify the list of eligible beneficiaries, their number and the amount actually payable. If any amount has already been paid in the name of the grant, it will be adjusted. Each eligible person will receive the grant only once. Expenditure on the additional amount actually payable, based on the number of certified beneficiaries, has been approved.

Employees of service-based contracts engaged for various corporation works have also got relief. Contracts in which 8.33 per cent is deducted for employees' bonus, or which provide for a Diwali bonus, will be excluded from this decision. For the remaining contracts that have no Diwali bonus provision, the ex gratia grant of the full Rs 45,000 has been approved for eligible employees of outside agencies working under them. These include the accountant-cum-data entry operators working under NUHM outsourcing at the urban health centres in the corporation's eight wards.