Dabbawalas of Mumbai are the pride of not only the city but of the nation. They are a symbol of organization, efficiency and a beacon of management skills. In fact management schools all around the world, learn about the Mumbai tiffin delivery system which has been graded as Six Sigma by the Harvard School of Business. This means for every million transactions, the dabbawalas make less than 3.4 mistakes. They successfully deliver fresh home-cooked meals to millions of Mumbaikars every day. Yet these deliverymen of happiness, do face alot of struggles. Many of them don’t even have their own home due to exorbitant house rates in the city. But now, Mumbai has recognized their years of tiresome efforts and the dabbawalas of Mumbai, will soon get their own homes and a central office.
What’s In It?
Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister chaired a meeting and during the course of this announced that houses will be built for dabbawalas of Mumbai under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). He also ordered to build Mumbai Dabbawala Bhavan in the city.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or PMAY scheme was launched in 2015 with the objective of providing housing for all dabbawalas in urban areas by the year 2022. Dilip Walse-Patil, the Labour Minister, Milind Mhaiskar, Vice President and other departments secretaries including MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) were also present in this meeting which was attended by a delegation of Mumbai’s dabbawalas.
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What’s More?
Subhash Talekar, the operation head of Mumbai Dabbawala Association stated that this was good news. He thanked Ajit Dada for taking such a decision. He also stated that he along with the entire Dabbawala Association welcomed this decision. This has been a long-standing demand of dabbawalas of the city to get their own low-cost houses. And this demand has been finally met. For those of you don’t know, there are around 5000 dabbawalas in the city who charge just around ₹1000 per month. This service which began in the 1890s is still thriving in spite of competition from online food delivery apps. After all, nothing can replace home-cooked food and Mumbai’s pride, its dabbawalas. Food Trucks Will Now Be Open In Mumbai From 11PM To 5AM?
The dabbawalas of Mumbai have an interesting system to maintain organization and efficiency. They have a system of colour code so they can identify easily where each box is picked up, sorted and delivered. Once the box is picked up from a home then it goes through 6 dabbawalas before it reaches the final consumer. This applies for a return trip as well, so you can imagine that in spite of all this, there is yet no room for error. We applaud this decision taken by the authorities of the city, as we are eternally grateful for their service.