Amid the lockdown in Mumbai due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses have been ferrying employees involved in essential services. While this puts the transport wing employees at risk, they have been performing their duties to ensure the frontline workers are able to provide their services without any hassles.
As of May 26, 208 BEST employees have tested positive for coronavirus, raising concerns about their safety. Addressing the issue, the BEST Workers' Union has written a letter to the BEST Corporation, demanding a separate COVID-19 hospital for BEST employees. Alongside, they have also asked the Corporation to arrange for testing facilities, isolation wards, ambulances, for BEST employees.
Eight BEST employees have succumbed to the deadly infection so far and since the bus drivers along with conductors are on-duty every day, they are always at risk of contracting the virus. In this situation, it is vital to test and isolate infected employees to curb the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, the Workers' Union has asked the Corporation to set up temporary hospital and isolation wards at two places: the technical training centre at Wadala and the Dindoshi depot.
Previously, the BEST Sanyukt Kamgaar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS), an umbrella body of BEST workers’ union had protested against the Corporation, demanding safety of the employees. The protest could have adversely affected the COVID-19 operations in the city but BEST General Manager, Surendra Kumar Bagde intervened and asked the Union to call off the protest.
Meanwhile, the BMC had earlier decided to convert over 72 BEST mini-buses into ambulances and use them to transport patients. BEST had installed two buses with oxygen cylinders and the life-support system in the new fleet of modified ambulances. The Union demanded that four of these ambulances must be set aside for the BEST employees. All the demands were presented in a letter to the BEST General Manager, Surendra Kumar Bagde.
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