The BJP has taken an aggressive stance against the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) decision to hire 600 buses along with drivers and conductors. The new contract will be awarded to a private contractor for a period of ten years and would cost INR 1,942 crores to BEST.
The opposition party in Maharashtra, BJP, has alleged that the move will lead to the complete privatisation of Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST). Besides, it has warned to take to the streets to oppose BEST's privatization move, criticising the Congress for their support to ally partner, Shiv Sena.
Apart from this, BJP also raised questions over the delay in merging the BEST budget with that of the BMC.
In a marathon meeting that lasted for nine hours on Tuesday, January 19, a contentious proposal of hiring private conductors was cleared by BEST committee members.
According to the proposal, now conductors will be hired in the same way as drivers are being hired on a contract basis in BEST. However, the BJP on Thursday raised the issue of the proposal being approved on a majority basis with the support of the ruling Shiv Sena and the Congress and the NCP. BJP group leaders Prabhakar Shinde, Bhalchandra Shirsat, BEST committee members Sunil Ganacharya, Prakash Gangadhare and Arvind Kaginkar have targeted Shiv Sena and other opposition parties in this regard.
The BEST administration had proposed to hire a total of 600 buses, drivers and conductors in three groups of 200 each. The party had proposed that they should first hire them for three years and the contract should be extended on the basis of performance.
The committee also cleared a proposal of appointing a contractor for digging to lay BEST cables. The BJP said until now, this work was done by BEST workers, and that this was the first time that a contractor will be appointed.
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