Mumbai: In battle against COVID-19, BEST opens depot for quarantine

Quarantine centre at the BEST depot in Kandarpada, Dahisar, is fully air conditioned and has 200 beds. Pic/ Satej Shinde

The BEST workers have been working tirelessly since Day 1 of the COVID-19 lockdown when even the city's lifeline -- local trains -- came to a standstill. The Undertaking started contributing to the city's battle against the deadly virus by plying buses to ferry essential services workers, and has now provided its premises to set up quarantine centres.

A 200-bed, fully air-conditioned COVID Care Centre has been erected at the Kandarpada depot and another one has been set up at Dahisar bus station, said a BEST official.

"The BMC takes the decision based on the requirements at the ward level, and if there's a vacant space, BEST is always there to provide what's needed for the city," another BEST official said.

The BEST Undertaking has 27 bus depots, 51 bus stations and 112 bus termini.

As the state government launched its 'Mission Begin Again' programme on June 8, BEST started 2,132 buses on 82 routes in the city for workers travelling for the essential services.

Over the months, BEST continued to increase the number of buses on the roads to meet the demand. As of Wednesday, it is running around 2,300 buses, and is very close to rolling out its entire fleet of 3,400 buses back to the streets of the city. BEST buses ferry over 11 lakh passengers daily.

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