BEST Strike Cripples Mumbai: Why Hasn’t BMC Taken a Stand?

Why hasn’t BCM batted an eyelid even as the BEST employees’ strike continues to affect 50 lakh Mumbaikars daily?

BEST strike continues to affect over 50 lakh Mumbaikars daily.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

Why is BMC, the country's richest municipal corporation, in a limbo? I am saying so because for the past 7 days, Mumbai's BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) employees have been on strike. And the management has not batted an eyelid even as the strike continues to affect over 50 lakh Mumbaikars daily.

BEST falls under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, which has a budget of 36 thousand crores, yet they don't seem ready to find middle ground.

File Photo: BEST bus(Photo: PTI)

BMC has been in Shiv Sena’s control for the past 25 years. Shiv Sena is aware of BEST’s condition. But instead of finding a solution, party president Uddhav Thackeray has not initiated any significant step.

If Uddhav Thackeray wants, he can personally meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and find a solution. But the possibility of that in the near future seems bleak.

What Do the BEST Employees Want?

• Timely payment of salaries
• Merger of BMC and BEST budget

BEST is MumbaI's second lifeline with 2,500 buses plying daily across 505 routes, covering a cumulative distance of 6.42 lakh kilometers.

BEST has suffered a major loss in passenger count after the advent of Ola-Uber and metros.

Why Haven’t They Found A Solution Yet?

BEST employees on strike(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

The BEST union municipal administration has had several meetings with state government officials to address such issues, but no solution has been found so far. People have even appealed to the Bombay High Court  after looking at the problems faced by Mumbaikars.

The high court has directed the state government and municipal corporation to find a solution at the soonest but that directive has had no effect so far.

Now, the allegations are, the Shiv Sena wants to privatise BEST.  Because, is it that difficult to find a solution to this? The Opposition alleges that the lack of effort to find a solution is intentional.

Prior to this impasse, BEST employees had gone on strike for 3 days in 1997. Now Mumbaikars are expecting the Maharashtra government to look beyond a profit-loss statement and find a solution to this.