16-hour-long BEST bus strike called off after Sena chief’s intervention

GREAT INCONVENIENCE As many as 30 lakh commuters hit, office-goers mostly affected by daylong stir

Sixteen hours after inconveniencing over 30 lakh bus commuters on Monday, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) union workers called of their strike. No BEST bus plied from Sunday midnight and the strike was called off after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray assured the workers payment of their salaries by August 10.

However, even after the strike was called off at 4pm, the employees failed to resume work until late in the evening.

“We are waiting for the employees to resume work so that we could start operating at least a few buses in the evening,” said Hanumant Gophane, Public Relations Officer of BEST.

On Monday, at least 3800 BEST buses which ply daily on more than 400 routes went off the roads due to the strike. At least 36,000 employees of the transport wing of BEST who participated in the strike were off duty.

The agitation caused chaos on the city roads and the office goers were largely inconvenienced. Many commuters were surprised to see that not a single bus plied on the city roads.

“My office is at Mantralay and I was surprised to see that there were no buses on the roads. I realized that there was a bus strike only when I asked a few people around. Finally, I had to take a taxi to reach my office," said Dinesh Joshi, a resident of Dombivli who takes a BEST bus daily from Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Mantralay.

Due to the strike, there were long queues of commuters waiting to take autorickshaws and taxis to reach their destinations. Few share auto-rickshaw drivers who were aware of the bus strike overcharged the commuters outside Kurla station.

“The sharing autorickshaws charge Rs 10 from Kurla to Bandra-Kurla Complex on regular days. Today, they charged us Rs 20 after waiting for over 20 minutes in the long queue,” said Sharmila Kale, a resident of Vikhroli who travels daily in share autorickshaw from Kurla.

Some commuters also said issues relating to salaries of the workers must be discussed in the meeting, instead of inconveniencing the commuters.

The Central Railways opened one extra booking window each at Kalyan, Dombivli, Thane, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar and Bhandup stations to cater to the extra rush of daily commuters.

Several private buses, school buses and company buses were seen plying on the roads after the state government issued a circular stating that these could be used as a public transport during the bus strike.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) also operated at least 70 extra services between Kurla to Mantralay for the commuters during the strike.

We are waiting for the employees to resume work so that we could start operating at least a few buses in the evening — Hanumant Gophane, PRO, BEST after workers failed to resume work at 4 pm My office is at Mantralay and I was surprised to see that there were no buses on the roads — Dinesh Joshi, A resident of Dombivli The sharing autorickshaws charge Rs 10 from Kurla to Bandra-Kurla Complex on regular days. Today, they charged us Rs 20 after waiting for over 20 minutes in the long queue — Sharmila Kale, A resident of Vikhroli who travels daily in a share autorickshaw