BEST staff staged a protest on Sunday morning (November 3) over the Diwali bonus, which reduced the number of buses on the road. To smooth commuters' transportation, BEST general manager Anil Diggikar held an urgent meeting with BEST union leaders on Monday and sought approval of Rs 80 crore in funds to disburse as a Diwali bonus among staff.
Ahead of the Assembly election in Maharashtra, Dggikar wrote to the Election Commission seeking an order to disburse Rs 29,000 per employee as a Deepavali bonus. A group of drivers threatened further protest if the bonus was not disbursed to them. Union leader Shashank Rao said that the issue had been resolved, and now employees would get the bonus.
Meanwhile, earlier, contractors delayed the delivery of buses, resulting in poor frequency and prolonged waits at stops of BEST buses. 280 mini buses were recently pulled out, and now protests from staffers resulted in further reduction of the fleet.
While the fleet has reduced to nearly 2,900 buses, BEST is yet to receive delivery of new electric AC buses. Diggikar said he issued notices to the contractors to expedite deliveries and expects at least 80 new electric AC buses to arrive in the fleet in the next couple of days.