Over 1,000 BEST wet lease buses remain off streets as strike continues

A long queue of commuters could be seen waiting for the bus at several bus stops near Ghatkopar Railway Station on Thursday.

Due to the strike, commuters faced huge inconvenience. Manoj Vyas, a regular traveller of bus route number 14, which goes from Pratiksha Nagar to Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk at Fountain, said, “I waited at least 45 minutes but the bus did not come. I had to take a taxi.” He said he was not aware of the strike.

Similarly, Shubhangi Gangadhare, from Mulund, also said there was no BEST service available and she had to take an auto to reach the station.

Workers of the wet lease contractor have called a strike, demanding a salary hike, and are protesting at Mymbai’s Azad Maidan. Sunil Ganacharya, former BEST panel member from BJP, said he will ask for a meeting between workers and contractors to resolve the issue.

Police stands guard outside the Ghatkopar bus depot. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)

As per BEST, the strike has affected services from 12 depots, namely– Worli, Pratiksha Nagar, Arnik, Dharavi, Deonar, Shivaji Nagar, Ghatkopar, Mulund, Majas, Santacruz, Gorai, Magathane among others.

The strike was called on Wednesday, whereupon SMT’s 500 contracted workers at two depots Mulund and Ghatkopar stopped working. Thus, 160 buses remained off the road. The buses of wet lease contractors of BEST that were off-road on Thursday were of Hansa (12), Maruti (473), Tata (155), Mateshwari (369).

Meanwhile, the BEST has slapped notices on its wet lease contractors with a fine of Rs 5,000 imposed for each non-plying bus, directing it to resolve the issues with its employees, said an official.

BEST has 3,124 buses in total; 1,487 of its ownership and the remaining 1,637 are from wet lease contractors. Second only to local trains, BEST buses ferry 33 lakh people daily.