Mumbai: After being headless for 20 days, the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) has appointed additional chief secretary Anil Diggikar as the new general manager on Wednesday.
The absence of a head has led to a slew of repercussions for BEST which was headless since its former general manager Vijay Singhal was transferred to CIDCO 20 days ago. Diggikar will have a lot on his plate to look at.
The frequent issues of wet lease operators plaguing the Undertaking or the slow supply of new buses to add to their fleet or the staff crunch. The transport experts said there was an urgent need for a new general manager to take a strong stand against the bus manufacturers who are delaying the supply of buses. “The fleet is less than 3,000 buses and has remained the same for months now. The new GM needs to take a quick stock of the situation and ensure that buses come faster,” said a transport expert.
Diggikar has worked as CMD of the City and Industrial Development Corporation, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, and chairman of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority. He is a senior bureaucrat from the 1991 batch IAS officer.
The state had faced criticism for keeping BEST headless and there were no senior officers to take calls on agitation by wet lease bus staff. The undertaking was handed over to the additional municipal commissioner Dr Ashwini Joshi. “When the general manager’s post was lying vacant, the administration did what’s best to generate revenue and thus hiked fares of the passes. No thought was given towards passengers or the welfare of the staff. This was seen from the two recent incidents of unrest among the wet-lease drivers,” said Sunil Ganacharya, former BEST Committee member.
{{/usCountry}}The state had faced criticism for keeping BEST headless and there were no senior officers to take calls on agitation by wet lease bus staff. The undertaking was handed over to the additional municipal commissioner Dr Ashwini Joshi. “When the general manager’s post was lying vacant, the administration did what’s best to generate revenue and thus hiked fares of the passes. No thought was given towards passengers or the welfare of the staff. This was seen from the two recent incidents of unrest among the wet-lease drivers,” said Sunil Ganacharya, former BEST Committee member.
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