The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking will be floating tenders to appoint an agency or a bank to collect and deposit its loose change and currency notes.
The BEST has been witnessing a surge in collection of coins since it slashed fares last year. Senior BEST officials said ICICI Bank had sought a handling charge to collect the coins and deposit them, which the BEST couldn’t afford.
Anil Patankar, BEST committee chairman, said he had raised the issue of appointing an agency to tackle the issue during the committee’s meeting on Monday.
He said, “The general manager told us that he will be raising the issue with officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and request ICICI Bank to reconsider imposing the handling charge. They should ideally exempt the BEST from such charges as we are a public service.”
Mr. Patankar said due to the impasse, around ₹12 crore in coins is lying idle across bus depots. To ease the crisis, the BEST has been paying employees a part of their salaries, around ₹2,000, in coins. However, sources in the BEST said efforts are on to create stacks of ₹10,000 at every depot for disbursal if the issue is not resolved by March 13, when employees get their salaries.
A BEST spokesperson said the general manager would be meeting with the RBI officials soon to find a solution. BEST officials said ICICI Bank had not levied any service charge earlier, but in a letter to the BEST had said it would charge ₹100 for every ₹1,000 collected in coins. The BEST on an average earns ₹2 crore a day, and coins make up ₹15 lakh.
BEST officials said after fares were reduced in July 2019, they had tied up with toll collection agencies to get rid of loose change. “With the introduction of FASTag, even that avenue is no longer available,” an official said.
