Striking BEST employees were in for a shock when they received eviction notices from the transport undertaking on Wednesday. As many as 2,000 workers were served eviction notices, while another 300 were slapped with a Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) notices at the Bhoiwada, Ghatkopar, Colaba and Parel BEST quarters.
Workers said the MESMA was invoked to ‘bully’ them into calling off the strike, threatening with possible arrest, which the BEST management calls illegal. “I am ready to evict, but my pension money is awaited. How can I buy another apartment when I have not been paid post- retirement? And now, the BEST wants us to vacate our houses. This is unfair, and a strategy to scare employees so that they return to work,” Vishwanath Dhanawade (50), a retired BEST inspector, said.
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Vaishali (42), wife of Kisan Jagdhale (52), a BEST driver, said, “There were nearly 25 people including five male and four female police officers. They went to each door and handed over the letters. They asked me to sign these letters. While one copy was given to us, they took one signed copy with them. We did not know what the letters were, but signed it nonetheless as the people were from the BEST.”
BEST Workers’ Union leader Shashank Rao slammed the administration, saying the act of issuing eviction notices is unheard of. “Give MESMA notices to the workers, but why are you troubling their families, when they are not around. Are you going to stoop so low?”
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Mr. Rao said women residents of BEST quarters will be marching to Wadala depot on Thursday to protest the eviction notices. BEST staff living in the quarters said the notices were served when they were not at home. “My wife was alone. They told her to sign quickly and were in a hurry. She thought it was important as BEST officials often come with papers. We trusted them until today, but don’t know if we can now,” Rajendra Anpat (52), a driver, said.
Dhananjay Telkar (20), a student of Mahatma Phule College in Parel, who was present at home when the officials arrived, said, “They told my mother that the letter was about the strike and if she did not sign, the jobs of people were at risk. When I checked the letter, I saw it had no stamp. Meanwhile, other residents who had received the letters had started raising an alarm on WhatsApp. We took our signed letters back.” The People’s Union of Civil Liberties issued a statement in solidarity with the workers and their families, and demanded that the administration withdraw the notices immediately.
( With inputs from Siddhati Mehta )