Mumbai BEST employees’ announce strike, bus services likely to be hit

Power supply in South Mumbai and civic bus services are likely to be affected as a joint action committee of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking employees announced an indefinite strike from Thursday midnight in support of their demands.

The committee is pressing for a slew of demands, including the merger of the undertaking’s budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The BEST Sanyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, an action committee comprising 12 unions representing BEST employees, made the announcement at a gathering in Dadar on Thursday evening, stating that their long-pending demands had not been addressed within the stipulated deadline.

BEST is Mumbai’s second-largest public transport provider after the suburban railway network.

Besides operating bus services, it supplies electricity to more than 10 lakh consumers in the island city. Around 25 lakh passengers travel daily on BEST buses.

The civic undertaking currently operates a fleet of about 2,700 buses, of which only 243 are owned by BEST, while the rest are hired from private operators on a wet-lease basis.

Among the key demands of the employees are the merger of BEST’s budget with that of the BMC, a one-time settlement of legal dues of retired employees, implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for the 2016-2026 period, abolition of contractual arrangements in the transport and electricity departments, and absorption of wet-lease bus workers into BEST.

The committee has also demanded recruitment to vacant posts, operation of 6,000 buses under BEST ownership, promotions for eligible employees, and rejection of privatisation and public-private partnership (PPP) models in the undertaking.