The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking ran 1,339 buses on Monday, in line with the average buses being run during lockdown, after tensions between the administration and unions grew over a potential strike.
The BEST Sanyukt Kamgaar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS), an umbrella body of BEST workers’ unions, in a statement on Monday morning said BEST workers had decided not observe a “lockdown” and stay at home as they felt responsible for other essential service providers such as nurses, doctors and the police.
A union official said they were in a state of flux in the morning as several BEST drivers and conductors were in the townships in the larger metropolitan region.
“The drivers provide buses in the morning for municipal workers and hospital workers from areas such as Badlapur, Vasai and Kharghar. These drivers and conductors go there the night before and spend the night at the local ST depot. They would have been stranded had we decided to adhere to a lockdown,” an official said. He said the purpose of the stir was to draw attention to the problems faced by BEST workers, which to an extent had happened.
The BSKKS had said workers would stay at home until the administration improves safety protocols for the drivers and conductors. In a statement on Monday, it said 16 workers had died and 100 were in hospitals and that the government and BEST administration had taken no responsibility for the same.
