A week after the cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) floated tenders to source 100 private midi-buses on hire from private contractors, political parties in the civic body ha
A week after the cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) floated tenders to source 100 private midi-buses on hire from private contractors, political parties in the civic body have opposed the move. This, despite corporators being aware of such a plan almost a year ago. The opposition is reportedly because of the impending Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in 2017.
The first union that had opposed the move was the Best workers union, led by Shashank Rao, who begun campaigning against the move a week ago.
Though the proposal was discussed in front of the corporators numerous times, they maintain they were not informed about the final decision.
Sunil Ghanarcharya from the ruling Sena said he would like to know how the Best planned to bring in private players. “We would like to know why we were not informed of the tenders before it was floated For the record, we are opposed to it,” said Mr Ghanacharya.
The Best’s plan to bring in the midi-buses was discussed in meetings as well as the media, including the plan to hire private conductors and drivers. However, in its tender call last week, the Best has mentioned that these buses would be allowed to be parked in the depots at subsidised parking rate of Rs 1 per day. This would mean a loss of potential revenue.
Sources within the Best administration have said that the corporators were informed but were not taken into confidence when the tenders were called. “The only new development was the parking rate, which can always be reviewed, but this looks like a populist move by all the parties before the election next year,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
Other Best committee members like Congress’s Ravi Raja have asked for a consultant to be appointed to review the market rates so the expected revenue can be gauged. “We should know how much a private parking lot charges and if we are allowing anyone to park their private vehicle in our depot they should pay the market rate,” said Mr Raja.
Committee members of MNS, Shiv Sena, Congress, BJP and Samajwadi Party have opposed renting private vehicles.
