After MLA installs new bus shelter, BEST reports old one as missing in Mumbai's Andheri

BEST officials said they were informed about the change only two days ago and on Friday, the matter was discussed at the BEST Committee meeting

A bus q-shelter or covered bus stop with seats for commuters installed by the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) in Andheri East has gone missing, replaced by a new one bearing the name of the local Shiv Sena MLA, Murji Patel.

Shiv Sena MLA, Murji Patel said that the previous q-shelter at ‘Shri Andheri KVO Sewa Samaj Chowk’ on Old Nagardas Road was old and dilapidated, so he got it replaced using local area development funds, after securing all the necessary permissions. (Satish Bate/Hindustan Times)

Patel contends that the previous q-shelter at ‘Shri Andheri KVO Sewa Samaj Chowk’ on Old Nagardas Road was old and dilapidated, so he got it replaced using local area development funds, after securing all the necessary permissions.

“I approached the BEST and the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) myself and received permissions a week before installing the new bus q-shelter,” he told Hindustan Times.

BEST questions permissions and funding

But BEST officials said they were informed about the change only two days ago and on Friday, the matter was discussed at the BEST Committee meeting after one of the members, Sachin Patil from Shiv Sena (UBT) Sena, raised the issue.

“There is no clarity about whether the (BEST) administration granted official permission for installation of a new bus shelter, and who funded the same. It is also not clear if a tender process was followed,” participants at the meeting quoted Patil saying.

In a letter to the BEST administration, Patil said, “The BEST is a public transport organisation and it is essential to follow rules when using its name, logo and public facilities. If this bus stop was built without necessary permits, the BEST administration should not support such unauthorised construction.”

He also demanded an inspection of the site and requested details of all permits, approved plans, funds and expenses related to the bus stop’s construction.

Inquiry and inspections ordered

Pursuant to Patil’s letter, the BEST administration initiated an inquiry and lodged a missing complaint with the police regarding the previous bus shelter, a BEST official said. BEST committee chairperson Trushna Vishwasrao has also directed the administration to conduct a detailed inspection at all sites where political party leaders have allegedly made changes to bus stops.

Senior BEST officials said they would check the norms for bus stop makeovers, as they suspected that the new bus stop at ‘Shri Andheri KVO Sewa Samaj Chowk’ violated the authorised template for bus q-shelters.

The BEST has more than 4,500 bus stops across the city, of which close to 2,000 are q-shelters with a steel frame, roof, seating, and frontal fence. Some shelters are dark green in colour and have charging points, digital screens for displaying bus arrival timings, and spaces to keep newspapers. Hoardings installed above these bus q-shelters generate substantial revenue for the BEST undertaking.

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