Flash strike by BEST drivers affects passengers on second day

Shiv Sena committee member Suhas Samant mediated between protestors and the management of the contractor to resolve the strike

BEST bus operations in Mumbai remained affected on the second consecutive day on Friday as drivers of wet-leased contract buses refused to work, protesting against non-payment of salaries for a period of three months. About 200 bus drivers at Bandra, Vikhroli and Wadala depots refused to take to the wheel, hitting morning rush hour with over 175 buses lying idle. The strike ended in the afternoon after Shiv Sena committee member Suhas Samant mediated between protestors and the management of the contractor.

Passengers upset

"There was no bus in the morning on a working day. BEST services have become erratic and there are new complaints every day. Many a times, their AC buses work with windows open, many times the buses skip halts and the staff is very rude and today there were no buses with long queues at bus stops and no one willing to tell what had happened," Ramesh Sobajkar, a Ghatkopar resident said.

"The contract bus drivers are holding the city to ransom. We had to resort to autos whose drivers as usual overcharged as buses were not there. The BEST bus service has become very unreliable nowadays," Girija Dhakne, another commuter said.

BEST action

BEST officials initially tried to distance themselves from the agitation saying it was not a BEST strike. Later when told that the undertaking's commuters were suffering, officials said they had deployed 86 buses from few other depots to cater to passengers in Bandra, Dadar and Vikhroli and Ghatkopar.

On Thursday morning also, the strike was observed for few hours at Wadala and Kurla depots. "We will take action against the contractor for not providing services as per the terms and conditions of the contract," a BEST official said.

Shashank Sharad Rao convener, BEST Workers' Joint Action Committee told mid-day that he had shot off a letter to the administration about the treatment by MP Group (BEST's private contractor firm) to its employees, and alerted the BEST administration that the company had defaulted on its employees' monthly salaries.