Mumbai citizens’ group wants BMC, BEST budget to be merged

The strike was called off on Wednesday afternoon, based on the directives of the Bombay high court.

Not just the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) staff, even the citizens want the undertaking’s budget to be merged with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC), a citizens’ group, Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST (AMAB), said on Thursday.

BEST bus services resumed after the labour union called off the strike on January 16. (HT File)

More than 35,000 BEST employees had gone on an indefinite strike from the midnight of January 7. The strike was called off on Wednesday afternoon, based on the directives of the Bombay high court. BEST administration suffered an estimated loss of ₹27 crore during the nine-day strike. While all 3,337 buses hit the roads on Thursday, there is no clarity over the merger of the budget. A high court-led panel will now look into the demand, which does not have a go-ahead from the civic chief.

The group, which had supported the strike, in its statement, said: “The municipal commissioner and the state government have put up a stiff resistance to this demand. Clearly, they do not acknowledge public transport to be a basic right of citizens and they are planning to wind down the BEST. The belligerent declaration of the municipal commissioner at the height of the strike that he intends to privatise bus operations – the so-called ‘wet-leasing’ scheme and shrink services should ring alarm bells for the general public.”

The group has also raised several demands such as reduction in fares to woo commuters.

“The administration should once again start issuing BEST bus passes with concessions to senior citizens and further reduce the price of student passes. The BEST buses should be given right of way, particularly on important roads. The state government should also provide BEST tax concessions,” said the public statement issued by the convenor, Vidyadhar Date. “The management should revive the discontinued routes, purchase new buses and operate on routes, which are not profitable as public transport is a basic right,” it said.

The group has demanded BEST buses should have unhindered access to railway and metro stations, along with introduction of mobile application-based technologies.

Meanwhile, the regional transport offices (RTO) booked 120 autorickshaw and taxi drivers on various charges, including overcharging, fleecing and passenger refusal during the strike.

‘Rao cheated employees, staff won’t get promised ₹7-K hike’

Alleging that union leader Shashank Rao misled Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking (BEST) workers during the strike that concluded on Wednesday, the Shiv Sena on Thursday said the staff will not get the raise promised by Rao.

Sena spokesperson and member of legislative council Anil Parab alleged, “Rao held the city to ransom, but still failed to give any benefits to the staff. What he said in his speech and what the high court order states are totally different. He said the workers will get ₹7,000 more in their salaries, but as per our calculation, the workers will only get a raise of ₹3,428.”

“There are accusations that the Shiv Sena failed to mediate. Their union leaders said there were invisible hands of many leaders. One of them said Ashish Shelar, president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mumbai unit, former CM and Rajya Sabha member Narayan Rane and legislator Kapil Patil helped them from behind the curtains... It was done to discredit the Shiv Sena,” Parab said, while addressing the media at Sena Bhavan in Dadar.

Parab said Rao would get political mileage, while others who supported the Rao-led union would also win brownie points by defaming the Shiv Sena. “Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, during a meeting with all stakeholders on the second day of the strike, proposed to have an agreement for 38,000 BEST workers. However, the union insisted on salary negotiations for only junior grade staff. We withdrew our support to the strike after that,” he said.

The leader said the union leader had promised BEST workers they would not face any pay cut and no cases will be filed against those who protested. “However, no such thing is mentioned in the HC order. Rao’s union is dwindling— from 26,000 to 13,000 workers. This was done to increase his chances to clinch the elections.”