Mumbai:The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) strike has entered its sixth day, as the Brihanmumbai Sanyukta Kamgar Kruti Samiti refused to withdraw the stir even after talks with the three-member committee appointed by the state government, on Saturday at Mantralaya. The high court had directed the state government to set up the committee on Friday. “The talks were positive, unlike the others till now. The committee members at least heard our demands. However, the strike will continue until a concrete solution to the problem is given to us in writing”, Shashank Rao told The Free Press Journal.
However, the BEST administration, which is reluctant to concede the demands of the workers, has plans to hike basic fares, thereby making consumers pay for their losses. Minimum fares are expected to be hiked by 50 per cent — from Rs 8 to Rs 12. This is being done to assimilate the additional need of 33 per cent of finance BEST will need, if the demands are accepted.
Activists have slammed both BEST and BMC for this proposed hike. “Increasing the fares is wrong, because it will directly impact the ridership. Transferring the burden to the consumers is the worst move. Instead, the corporation should think of other ways to deal with this situation,” said Vidyadhar Date, an activist.
On Saturday, the BMC Mazdoor Union, the Port Trust, Dock and General Administration Union and Electric Supply Branch of the BEST joined the strike. Earlier on, besides Rao, the municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta and the gene- ral manager of the BEST, Surendrakumar Bagde, met the three-member committee to present their respective versions. The committee has received written drafts from every party and will present its observations to the high court on Monday. Meanwhile, the state government deployed few private and state transport buses on Saturday, which were still not enough to cater to the nearly 30 lakh commuters who ride the buses every day.
