Nearly 57 per cent of the lost cell phones recovered by employees of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, are yet to be claimed by their owners.
In 2020, BEST employees recovered total 798 cell phones from the buses. These phones were misplaced by the passengers while they were travelling. Of the total phones recovered, only 340 cell phones have been claimed by their owners while 458 phones are still with BEST.
If a bus conductor or driver recover any lost item, they deposit it to the depot manager. Who then submits the item in the 'BEST Loss Property' section at Wadala depot. Every month, BEST publishes a list of recovered mobile phones and valuables in its website and social media accounts.
Speaking on the matter, BEST spokesperson - Manoj Varade told, owners can easily claim their lost item by presenting their identity proof at Wadala depot. However, most of the owners lose their hope of getting their valuable back and don't check back with BEST.
"We are trying to reach out to maximum people by making best use of social media but unfortunately not many people come back to claim their belongings, " Varade told FPJ.
According to the data, in April 2020, not a single phone was claimed by their owners. While in May 2020, all the recovered phones were claimed by their employees. Highest recovery was made during January 2020 (99 phones), while the lowest recovery was made during May 2020 (9 phones).
"We keep the recovered items for a certain period of time, after that we put them for auctioning through a proper process of tendering," Varade added.
He also mentioned many a times, the management rewards the employees with letters of appreciation for their honesty.
"There have been cases when conductors and drivers has returned valuable items like jewelery and cash to the passengers, in these cases we felicitate the employees to encourage them and others" stated the BEST spokesperson.
