Kurla bus crash: Political parties trade charges over mishap

BJP is blaming Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray for the BEST’s decision to wet-lease buses, while the Sena (UBT) is blaming the Mahayuti government

MUMBAI: Not 24 hours after a runaway BEST claimed 7 lives and left 42 other injured in Kurla (West) on Monday night, politicians have begun trading charges over the horrific accident. The focus of their charges is the wet-lease system adopted by the BEST as the bus involved in the crash had been wet-leased by the undertaking. Police sources said the driver who had caused the crash had begun driving the BEST bus just a fortnight ago. Before that, he had been driving a significantly smaller bus.

Mumbai: People gather near the wreckage of vehicles after a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking's bus rammed into pedestrians as well as vehicles on a road at Kurla, in Mumbai.(PTI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is blaming Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray for the BEST’s decision to wet-lease buses, while the Sena (UBT) is blaming the Mahayuti government for ignoring the allegedly sorry state of the undertaking. The Congress has demanded that the BEST drop the practice of wet-leasing buses.

The undertaking, which adopted this practice as a cost-cutting measure in 2017, has 1,900 buses on wet lease in a fleet of 2,913 vehicles. Under this system, buses are leased from private contractors along with drivers. Maintenance is also the contractor’s responsibility.

The BEST is an undertaking of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which was ruled by the undivided Shiv Sena for over two decades. During this time, the BJP was the Sena’s political alliance partner. Significantly, civic elections have not been held since 2022.

Former BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde has written to BEST general manager Anil Diggikar, stating, “It has been seen on many occasions that drivers and conductors (of wet-leased buses) are inexperienced and have difficulties in driving in Mumbai.” Shinde has demanded an inquiry into the accident as well as action against the contractor of the bus that caused the accident. He said that merely charging the driver and allowing the contractor to go scot-free would not be enough.

Shinde pointed out that BJP members on the BEST Committee years ago had opposed the wet-lease contract awarded from 2018 to 2021. He pointed a finger at Aaditya Thackeray, leader of the Sena (UBT), which is an opposition party in the state, saying, “Aaditya Thackeray came for the inauguration of these wet-lease buses and the BJP had opposed it in the committee but were not allowed to speak. We had also informed our leader Devendra Fadnavis in those days.’’

Former Mumbai mayor and Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar said Shinde was misleading the people. “The BJP is lying. We took the buses on wet-lease but the BJP-run BMC and BEST took on untrained drivers. They cannot blame Aaditya Thackeray for all this. A favourite contractor of the BJP has been hiring untrained drivers,’’ Pednekar said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad has demanded an inquiry into the accident. She also said the BEST should scrap the wet-lease system as the undertaking has no jurisdiction over the drivers and conductors of these buses. She also alleged that the compensation of ₹5 lakh given to the families of each individual who died in Monday’s accident was paltry and was like “applying salt to the wounds of victims”.

BEST general manager Anil Diggikar said, “We have formed a committee of our operations and engineering teams to see what modifications in the training programme can be done, and whether there is a need to improve the training module for drivers and conductors. We are also analysing whether or not the road safety measures taught in these modules are enough.’’

Diggikar said the bus involved in Monday’s accident, prima facie, appeared to have exhibited no mechanical malfunction but a “brake-efficiency test” was being conducted. “We have not been able to speak to the driver Sanjay More as he is in police custody,” said Diggikar. Concurring with this, an officer of the Regional Transport Office (East), Ravi Gaikwad, said his officers had inspected the bus and said that, prima facie, nothing was amiss with the vehicle.

A section of BMC officers have suggested that the municipal corporation take over the loss-making BEST but municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani is not in favour of the move as the BEST is governed by separate legislation and is a separate entity. The BMC has also provided a grant of ₹250 crore to the BEST for the purchase of new buses.

Compensation Increased

Soon after opposition parties said the compensation announced was too little, the state government upped it by ₹2 lakh for the family of each deceased, taking the sum to ₹7 lakh each. BJP MLA Girish Mahajan, a former minister and close aide of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, visited the Kurla Bhabha Hospital, where many of the injured have been admitted. He said the government has taken a serious view of the accident. He said of the ₹7 lakh compensation for the family of each deceased, ₹2 lakh would be given by the BEST and ₹5 lakh by the state.