The discontinuation of the BEST air-conditioned bus service has led to a blame game within the BEST, with the Shiv Sena on Tuesday blaming the BJP for inducting the loss-making King Long buses into the BEST fleet. The BEST has been running on an annual fiscal deficit of ₹590 crore per annum, and the AC buses have caused losses of ₹84 crore per annum as per the BEST budget.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sanjay Potnis, the Sena’s former chairman of the BEST committee, said the party had always opposed introducing these buses. “We had simply allowed introduction of 20 buses on a trial basis in 2006. Later, we stalled a proposal to buy 50 buses during my term in 2007-08. However, soon after the BJP chairman took over in 2008-09, in the very first meeting, they approved the proposal to induct 50 King Long air-conditioned buses into the BEST fleet.
“During my second term as chairperson in 2008-09, another proposal for 200 buses was received, which we did not clear. But, in 2010-11 when another BJP chairperson took over, they introduced 200 buses into the fleet. I have noted my objections in the meeting records. We were more keen on the Volvo buses that cost ₹90 lakh per bus,” he said.
The Sena-BJP combine has been ruling the BEST together for more than two decades. Opposition leader Ravi Raja of the Congress also said that he had opposed the King Long buses and had instead backed the proposal for Tata buses, which were higher in cost by about ₹12-15 lakh.
“However, the ruling party opposed us saying that we should go for the cheapest option, which was the King Long buses. These AC buses have so far led to losses of about ₹500 crore to the BEST,” he said.
The AC bus services were completely discontinued on April 17 due to huge losses and shoddy quality of buses. The fleet of 279 buses had problems like leaking ACs, slow pick-ups and even breakdowns while climbing bridges, and high maintenance costs causing average losses of ₹84 crores per annum, as per the BEST budget.
One King Long bus had even caught fire. The spare parts of these buses were bought from China and assembled at Jalandar. These buses were bought from State and central funding as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said the BMC was committed to strengthen the BEST services.
Meanwhile, the mayor has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking payments of ₹3,523 crore that are due to the BMC from the State government.
