Why BMC's proposal to merge budget with BEST has not yet approved? asks Yashwant Jadhav

On Wednesday, December 9, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav directed the civic body administration to follow up with the Maharashtra government on the proposal to merge the budget of the loss-making Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) undertaking with its own.

The BEST budget for 2021-22 was tabled in the Standing Committee for approval on December 8. BEST has presented a deficit budget of ₹1,887 crores to the Standing Committee. According to reports, BEST has received a grant of ₹2,500 crores from the BMC.

Jadhav in the meeting said that there is no improvement in BEST’s financial health despite help being provided from the municipal corporation. The BEST has also not provided the details of the money spent by them to improve its financial condition.

In 2017, the municipal corporation had passed a proposal merge the budget of BEST and BMC as the bus service was facing huge losses. Later, the proposal was sent to the state government as it would require amendments in the BMC Act. However the proposal has not been approved yet.

In January, 2017, more than 35,000 BEST staff went on a nine-day strike, and one of their major demands was for the two budgets to be merged. BEST runs the city’s public bus service that ferries 28 lakh commuters every day, but is facing losses.