OCTOBER 29: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will request the Central government to subsidise the BEST fares in the wake of a proposed hike following the raising of diesel rates.The Standing Committee which deliberated the issue unanimously agreed on sending a committee headed by Mayor Hareshwar Patil and party leaders to meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to make the plea.The debate was initiated through the Simplicitor move by Independent corporator Niyaz Ahmed Vanu who pointed out that since the price of diesel has been increased, the proposal to hike BEST fares was consequentially imminent. The Centre should subsidise rates as is done with local transport fares in Delhi.Congress leader K A Bastiwalla said an extra burden of Rs 45 crores would be put on the BEST exchequer because of the diesel price increase. The Delhi Transport Corporation gets a subsidy, BEST does not receive a similar treatment despite being the commercial capital of India bringing in the highest revenue. Asubsidy will avert an increase in fares bringing relief to commuters, he added.Shiv Sena's Digambar Kandarkar suggested that a committee headed by the Mayor and party leaders should meet Prime Minister Vajpayee and place the proposal before him. During that meeting the long-due cheque in aid of Kargil Fund should also be given to the Prime Minister, he added. He was unanimously supported by fellow members following which the meeting was promptly adjourned.Meanwhile at a meeting of the BEST committee today, members asked for stopping services on loss-making routes keeping in mind the decreasing passenger load and losses being incurred by the undertaking. Rajesh Sharma of the BJP said that average fleet utilisation had come down with few passengers travelling in the afternoon and almost four to six buses running on one route. The BEST, he said, was facing stiff competition in the suburbs from rickshaws, whose fares were more competitive than buses.Sharma also called for merging twin bus depots to saveon the Rs 1.5 crore expenditure incurred on each. The four twin depots are Goregaon-Oshiwara, Anik-Pratiksha Nagar, Deonar-Govandi and Dharavi-Kalakila.
