Mumbai: Two months after awarding the contract, bank has not lifted cash from BEST depots

Senior committee members of the BrihanMumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, on Wednesday, questioned the reliability of a tender that was passed earlier in January.

Earlier this year, BEST had awarded a contract to a public undertaking bank for daily cash lifting from BEST depots and bus stations. As the transactions in BEST buses take place in coins, BEST employees get their payment upto Rs 15,000 in the denomination of Rs 5 and Rs 10 coins. This has been causing sheer inconvenience to the employees. Earlier, in January, the BEST management had awarded the contract to this bank for cash lifting and to maintain the salary accounts of the employees.

However, senior committee members on Wednesday said that, despite awarding the contract, the bank has not lifted cash from the bus depots since the last two months and employees continue to get their salary in the denominations of Rs 5 and Rs 10.

"Cash worth Rs 30 crore is still lying at BEST depots and the bank has not fulfilled its deeds, despite the contract being already awarded to them," senior BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya said during the committee meeting on Wednesday.

Ganacharya said the process of awarding the contract was done in a hasty manner and full details were not provided to the members during the committee meeting, when the proposal was tabled for approval. "The management is still not giving out details as to why the bank is not lifting the cash. We have seeked clarification on the issue from the accounts department in the next meeting," Ganacharya added.