Arrange your own food: Mumbai's Dabbawalas on a week's leave from today

The iconic dabbawalas of Mumbai, who deliver food in tiffin boxes to over one lakh corporate employees in the city at their workplace, are going on a week’s leave starting from Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_2181161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The dabbawallas of Mumbai are going on one week’s leave. Agencies[/caption] Around 4500 dabbawalas of the Mumbai Tiffin Carriers Association (MTA) will go on their annual pilgrimage in their villages, reported DNA. The dabbawalas have also urged their customers not to deduct wages from their salaries for the days they are on leave. “Most people will be on holiday for Mahavir Jayanti, Good Friday and then the weekend. Most people have a half day on Saturday. So services won’t be affected much. Also we do not go to enjoy, but to perform our essential religious duties,” DNA quoted Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust (NMTBST) spokesperson Subhash Talekar as saying. Mumbai Dabbawalas every day deliver nearly 2 lakh lunch boxes to offices, employing about 4-5 thousand personnel, according to PTI. Complementing the dabbawalas for rendering a valuable service to the society, Maharashtra Transport Commissioner Mahesh Zagade had said in January that logistics management of the dabbawalas is so sophisticated that it has become part of management studies in reputed institutions. Their accurate delivery system was a case study at the Indian Institute of Management as well as the Harvard Business School. They have developed their own unique identity code, rarely mis-deliver the lunch box and their service is often said to be of ‘Six Sigma’ standard. Six Sigma refers to techniques used for process improvement and minimisation of errors in many industrial sectors. (With inputs from PTI)