Members of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Committee said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should disburse funds for the day-to-day functioning of the transport utility, instead of pushing what remains of it ‘into a museum’.
The Committee met on Thursday and discussed the BMC’s plan to install a 100-year-old tram at Bhatia Baug, near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT). The tram, currently in Anik Depot, is in a dilapidated condition.
BJP corporator Sunil Ganacharya said that the BEST administration should check if there was more space next to the tram as currently-running buses will soon be relics and forgotten by the people. “Hardly anyone remembers that trams used to run in the city. We should see if there is some space next to the tram. Given the state of the BEST, we will soon have to install a bus there,” he said.
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The refurbishing of the tram and installing it Bhatia Baug is expected to cost ₹15 lakhs, Mr. Ganacharya said. The BMC had allocated a paltry ₹34 crore to the BEST, whose bus transport wing is saddled with cumulative losses of over ₹2,000 crore.
BJP corporator Atul Shah said that instead of just displaying the the tram, the administration should propose to set up a line so that tourists can experience it. Chairman of the Committee Ashish Chemburkar said that tram lines were functional in several other countries and that the administration should look into it.
Another issue raised by corporators was to give workers’ salaries for the nine-day strike which took place in January. Workers found that they had not been paid for the nine days, when they received their salaries a few days ago. Senior Congress corporator Ravi Raja criticised the administration for the move, saying that such decisions should first be approved by the Committee. “The leave could have been adjusted with the workers’ leaves. However, the administration chose this mode of action,” he said.
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Mr. Ganacharya said that despite stating in the Bombay High Court that issues raised during the strike could be resolved amicably, this move showed that the administration did not want to resolve them. Sena corporator Anil Kokil said that it needs to be found out whether the court had allowed such a move.
BEST Deputy General Manager R.J. Singh said that the court was silent and had neither allowed nor disallowed the pay cut. “This strike was initially declared illegal. Action has been taken against workers who have participated in previous illegal actions,” he said.
A partial wage hike had been granted to a section of workers as directed by the Court, Mr. Singh said.