BJP, Sena spar over BEST’s e-ticket tender

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The BEST committee chairman rushed through a proposal on a digital ticketing system and it will cause losses to the bus undertaking if the management goes ahead with it, the BJP has alleged.

"We took a press conference yesterday [Monday] and alerted the management that if the BEST accepts tenders which have come in for its digital ticket initiative, it will face a loss of Rs 35 crore which would put an added burden on a system that is already facing massive fund crunch," said BJP leader Prabhakar Shinde.

Targeting committee chairman Ashish Chemburkar, he said, "During the meeting on Tuesday, he [Chemburkar] did not allow anyone to speak on the issue and just rushed through and approved the proposal. We will be filing a petition in the court for this and the loss to the public exchequer," Shinde said.

He added, "Those in power in the BEST and the BMC administration are trying to ensure that a certain company benefits out of this tender and we strongly oppose this as they have not followed the tendering norms and rules while doing so."

Shiv Sena's Chemburkar rubbished the allegations. "When the topic was called out at the meeting on Tuesday, I asked everyone present if anyone wanted to speak on the issue and that time there was no response from anyone. As per the protocol, we then sanctioned the plan and moved ahead. The allegations made by the BJP of favouritism are also untrue as all the formalities and procedures have been duly followed while scrutinising the bidders and only those eligible have been allowed to participate," he said.