Mumbai: BEST buses running AC COVID spreaders

BEST has argued that no passengers enter the buses midway

A former traffic department official with the BEST has alleged that the undertaking's air-conditioned buses could be 'Corona spreaders' as many of them belong to private contractors who usually have no record of sanitisation protocols. Also, on some routes, these AC buses run without conductors and there is no monitoring of social distancing norms.

Opening a can of worms, Prashant Sane, a former traffic officer now a lawyer, has alleged that the BEST has been playing with the lives of commuters and staff. "When it has been established that the use of air-conditioners can be harmful amid COVID-19, the BEST undertaking has been running AC buses on several routes," Sane said, adding that he had already complained about this to the Chief Minister's Office but in vain.

'Playing with lives'

"Shockingly, many of these buses do not have conductors, which leads to lack of monitoring of passengers with regard to social distancing protocols and since a number of buses belong to private contractors, no one has an idea if these buses are sanitised. BEST's own buses have all records of activity of buses maintained depot-wise," he added. "The buses are run so that the contractor does not face losses. We have been consistently alerting the BEST administration about this, but they have not been paying attention. This is like playing with the lives of citizens and employees," BEST Kamgar Sanghatana's general secretary Jagnayaran Kahar said.

BEST officials refuted the allegations saying that AC buses run on bus routes 40, 348 and 706. The buses pick up passengers only at starting stops. Bus route 624 in Malad has no conductor, so buses take passengers from Appapada and go directly to Malad, skipping all stops.

General Manager Surendra Bagade did not respond to calls and messages and BEST Chairman Anil Patankar also remained inaccessible.

BEST GM gheraoed

Members of the BJP Mumbai, including corporators and MLAs, on Thursday, barged into BEST Bhavan and gheraoed GM Surendra Bagde over high electricity bills. They questioned Bagde over the bills and disconnection notices to residents and demanded that they be withdrawn. "We are asking the GM to stay actions till August 3 when the assembly session starts. But the general manager has not been able to say anything," BJP leader Bhalchandra Shirsat said. The leaders later claimed that Bagde escaped from another door.

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