Starting October 6, the Mumbai University Karmachari Sangh began a protest in support of nearly 127 non-teaching staffers who are yet to receive their pension and fiscal benefits despite retiring eight years ago. Starting off as a silent protest, the union movement is to turn into a hunger strike if the issue is not resolved by October 15, according to members.
As per members of the Sangh, the university had stored all their recruitment documents on a mezzanine floor in the campus, which were washed away in the 2005 rains. “Since then, the matter lies in a limbo. The state government in 2016 had asked the university to submit a proposal to look into this matter. The proposal reached the Mantralaya in 2023, and by then, new queries arose,” said Avinash Tambe, the general secretary.
Members of the Mumbai University Karmachari Sangh begin their protest at the university’s Kalina campus on Monday, offering tributes to the 12 colleagues who passed away while waiting for their dues. Pics/By Special Arrangement
While the university has been providing the staff with an ad-hoc pension in the meantime, staffers worry that they may have to return huge sums once their government-sanctioned pensions are released. In the meantime, apart from the 127 superintendents, clerks, and peons, 12 staffers have already passed away, and two remain hospitalised owing to kidney complications and heart attack, without receiving their pension benefits.
One such ‘daftari’ is Navi Mumbai’s Ashok Mane, who is now bedridden and whose family is making do with an ad-hoc pension. “My 62-year-old father is suffering from hypertension, pneumonia, failing kidneys, and is now also hallucinating. He is bedridden and we need to make do with the ad-hoc pension from the university; however, we still worry that we may have to pay it back at any given time,” said Mithila Mane, Ashok’s 27-year-old daughter, who is now the sole breadwinner of the household.
The staffers in question had joined the university between 1985 and 1995 and had retired around 2017, many claiming that they still await their government pension and other fiscal benefits like gratuity and commutation of pension.
“We have lost 12 of our colleagues who never got to see their pension benefits until their last days. The union is still chipping in to help cover the medical expenses of the ones who have been admitted to the hospital. Their gratuity amounts and even advanced pension schemes could have come in handy,” said Naresh Varekar, president of the Mumbai University Karmachari Sangh.
Starting Monday, October 6, the MU Karmachari Sangh is to carry out the protest in three phases: a symbolic protest till October 9, then a “pen-down strike” from 11 am to 12 noon up to October 14, and finally, a hunger strike on October 15, 2025. When mid-day reached out to the Mumbai University, officials stated that the administration is supporting and following up with the state government departments on the matter.
