Photojournalists Pavan Khengre & Oinam Anand capture the hues of Diwali

Twenty-eight-year-old Dada Bhimrao Rokde, a driver with a small scale industries (SSI) in Nehrunagar, returned home with a bonus amount of Rs 10,000. “With the talk of mandhi (recession) eveywhere, I thought it won’t be our Diwali this year. But the bonus has come as a big surprise,” said his father, Bhimrao Rokde, a roadside cobbler.

Thirty-three-year-old Shilpa, an accounts executive with another SSI in Indrayani Nagar, received a bonus of Rs 14,000. “The company management had indicated that since we had incurred losses, there would be no salary and bonus. But we got both. It was a pleasant surprise,” she said.

If the employees of small units in Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari industrial belt are in celebration mood, those with the industrial giants are no less ecstatic.

Tata Motors gave nearly 10,000 of its employees in commercial and passengers segment a minimum bonus of Rs 25,000 each. “All our employees received a minimum bonus of Rs 25,000,” said Vishwas Oak, HR manager, Tata Motors. “Those in the supernnuation scheme have also received an amount which is 15 per cent of their basic salary besides an amount of Rs 11,500,” said Sujit Patil, president of Tata Motors Employees Union. There are around 2,000 employees in the supernnuation scheme. “Though the bonus amount is less than last year's, in the given situation it is far better,” he said.

Echoing the views, Pervez Diler, director of Anucool Industries, said, “Though the recession still continues, we have given the bonus as the per the norms stipulated by the government. Industries are on a revival path but not yet out of the difficult time.”

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