BEST panel for speeding up installing of CCTVs in buses

The committee that governs the BEST Undertaking on Tuesday said it has asked the administration to speed up the installation of closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) in buses, following a report published in Hindustan Times’s June 12 edition on the harassment women face in its buses.

The committee that governs the BEST Undertaking on Tuesday said it has asked the administration to speed up the installation of closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) in buses, following a report published in Hindustan Times’s June 12 edition on the harassment women face in its buses.

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The ongoing series on the safety of women who use the city’s public transport is part of Hindustan Times’s Make Mumbai Safer for Women campaign, which has over the past year, been highlighting women’s issues.

The BEST committee, which is the Undertaking’s governing body, raised the issue at a meeting on Tuesday. “The installation of CCTVs needs to be speeded up as they could act as deterrents and make it safer for women commuters,” said Dilip Patel, a committee member and Bharatiya Janata Party group leader.

The BEST administration said the process of installing CCTVs is already underway and in due course all buses would have them. The BEST runs 4,600 buses across the city, and is used by more than 45 lakh commuters every day.

OP Gupta, BEST general manager, said: “For women commuters, BEST travel is more safe than any other mode of transport in the city today. The CCTVs have been installed in 600 buses. In due course, the process will be completed.”