BEST needs ₹10,000 cr. over five years to get back on its feet

Undertaking registered loss of ₹19.77 crore due to strike

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) will require ₹10,000 crore over the next five years as financial support to revive its ailing transport division. The BEST general manager informed the BEST committee on Monday that the five-year plan had been discussed in a meeting with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials and the Mayor in the past.

“When we had presented a five-year plan during the joint meeting, we had said we need support of ₹10,000 crore. If the BMC says [it doesn’t] have that kind of money, then some way needs to be found out,” Surendrakumar Bagde, general manager, BEST, said.

Mr. Bagde said the transport division had been in financial trouble even earlier, and the deficit was bridged by collecting the transport deficit loss revenue cess from the undertaking’s electricity consumers. “The issue has not been created today. Even in 2016-17, there was a ₹590 crore deficit in our budget,” he said, replying to a motion to adjourn the meeting moved by senior committee member Ravi Raja of the Congress.

Sunil Ganacharya, senior committee member of the BJP, suggested the BMC allocate 3% of its property tax collections to BEST, or ₹500 crore. “It is because of the BEST that development occurred away from the railway station,” he said.

Mr. Raja held Mr. Bagde responsible for the nine-day strike by BEST workers which was called off on January 16. “Had the GM given the bonus as promised in the meeting, the strike would not have been called,” he said. Other committee members also took potshots at the GM. “Why didn’t the GM mention the merger of the budgets in his letter to the Chief Secretary?” Suhas Samant, Shiv Sena committee member and leader of the BEST Kamgar Sena, said. Mr Samant had withdrawn his support from the strike on the second day, but said the strike was only successful because of “Kamgar Sena members”.

The strike has been widely regarded as a a huge loss of face for the Shiv Sena, whose committee members on Monday said the protest was successful due to “invisible forces”, but also blamed the administration for worsening the condition of the workers.

The BEST administration also told the committee that the estimated loss due to the strike was ₹19.77 crore, with the damage to 17 buses in 10 incidents of stone pelting accounting for ₹37,300 of the loss. It said it earned ₹26.05 lakh on January 16 after bus services resumed.