BEST staff salary still paid in coins of INR 5 and INR 10

According to sources, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) staffers continue to get cash and coins as part of their monthly salary.

According to reports, a significant part of the ticket box collection has been used to give monthly salaries to 40,000 staffers. This included packets of coins of INR 5 and INR 10 denomination and cash of INR 10, INR 50, INR 100 denominations up to INR 15,000 as part of the salary.

At a committee meeting on Wednesday, March 31, the BEST panel member Sunil Ganacharya raised a question that why cash in crores was not being deposited in bank accounts but lying at depots and BEST’s cash room at Wadala for the past two months.

He also said that a contract was signed with a bank in January to lift ticket collections, but it is not being done to date. This is unwarranted as so much is lying in strong rooms of depots and at the central cash collection centre at Wadala.

Meanwhile, another panel member said a contract to lift coins and cash was awarded in January and it was presumed that employees would get 100 per cent salaries in their accounts. They still have to queue up to collect money bags. The rest of the salary is deposited in bank accounts.