Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST (AMAB), a citizen’s collective that has been fighting to save the bus transport undertaking, on Monday said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be responsible for any inconvenience due to the indefinite strike called by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) workers. The strike, which started on Monday midnight, was called by the BEST Sanyukta Kamgar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS), a joint-action committee of labour unions.
“Until 2006, the BEST had a surplus of ₹1,600 crore and now they are unable to pay gratuity to their workers. Who is responsible for this crisis?” Sandhya Gokhale, an AMAB member, asked.
A key demand of the collective is the same as the unions’ — merger of the BEST and main BMC budgets. Their other demands include rolling back the fare hike and restoration of cancelled routes. The BMC had not provided a single paisa to the BEST in their last budget and had managed to spend only 37% of the sanctioned budget, she said.
“Their argument that fare hike will improve the financial health of the BEST has been proved wrong as ridership has steadily declined,” Rashmi Divekar, another member said.Workers were forced to take the drastic stepand are often held responsible for the inconvenience caused, she said.
Ms. Gokhale said that BEST had hiked fares by 30% which made it unaffordable to several sections of the society. Madhuri Wadadkar, from a resident of Indira Nagar in Chembur, said that transport costs accounted for nearly 12 to 15% of their household incomes.
“BEST has scrapped 18% of its routes and reduced number of buses by 21% which results in 20% of area coverage,” Ms. Gokhale said. Farhana Warsi, who is visually impaired, said she had to drop out of a course after BEST pulled a key route. “I used to take the 86 number bus, which would take me directly from my home to the institute in Mahalaxmi. Now I need to walk to the station, which can be extremely difficult,” she said.
The collective criticised the BEST administration for stating they would invoke the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Actand declare the strike illegal. “If it is indeed an essential service, then why don’t you treat it like one?” Girija Gupte, a member asked. Vidyadhar Date, convenor of the AMAB said that while their key demands are to the BMC, the State government also has a responsibility to save BEST.
