BEST’s wet lease drivers call off strike after meeting with CM

Mumbai: Drivers with wet lease operators on contract with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply Transport (BEST) undertaking on Tuesday withdrew their strike, seven days after they began their protest. Sources said they had a meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde at 1am which broke the deadlock.

By Tuesday evening, 90% of the total 1,671 wet lease buses were on the road. According to wet lease drivers, in the meeting that lasted around 15-20 minutes, Shinde agreed to some of their demands.

“CM Eknath Shinde ji held a meeting late last night where he assured us that our demands would be met,” said Vikas Kharmale, wet lease driver and a part of the contingent leading the All-BEST Wet Lease Bus Drivers.

“These include salary hike, paying salaries on our day offs, which until now we were not getting, making us eligible for paid leaves, annual bonuses, free bus passes and ensure that no action is taken against any drivers who were out on strike during the period,” added Kharmale.

“Our most important demand to make us permanent BEST employees will be discussed in the coming days,” said Kharmale.

The drivers, since the beginning of the strike, had insisted they would take a decision on the strike only when they get to have a word with Shinde. Once these assurances were met, the drivers asked all the depots to get back to work.

Sources in the BEST undertaking said 85-90% of the wet lease buses were slowly returning to roads. On August 8, at least 305 wet lease buses remained off road.

“However, the situation will normalise by August 9. We understand that there is still a certain section of drivers who are upset with the decision to withdraw from the strike as they are awaiting all these assurances to come in writing,” said a BEST official.

By Tuesday evening, the wet lease drivers who had initiated the strike, had switched off their cell phones and were not reachable.

Meanwhile, BEST authorities claimed that their daily passenger count dropped from 33-34 lakh to 25-26 lakh during weekdays. Over the weekend, the daily passenger numbers came down from 20 lakh to 17 lakh across the city. Their daily revenues too fell from ₹2.27-2.30 crore to ₹1.46-1.23 crore during weekdays and weekends respectively.

Out of the total 3,061 buses that the BEST operated, there are 1,671 buses that are operated on wet lease while the remaining are owned by the undertaking.

The first few days of the strike remained peaceful with protests at Azad Maidan. It started with 177 drivers and swelled to 5,000 drivers.

Some drivers also resorted to stopping buses from operating on the road and were forcibly garlanding the drivers behind the wheel; after which the BEST had to seek police protection outside bus depots.

Voices

Anthony Samy, resident of Chembur and member of Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST

Why can’t the BEST absorb the wet lease drivers? Earlier, it was a fantastic system which got disturbed by wet lease. This is like giving some temporary relief which has no meaning. BEST owned manpower is important for the efficient running of buses. The stike might happen anytime again as well, and it will not benefit the commuters.

Paresh Rawal, public policy expert

For successfully implementing the wet lease model, there has been an extensive mechanism in place. I feel that the government authorities have failed to formulate a good wet lease model here. Salaries were the responsibility of the private wet lease operator as per contract and they should have ensured that the pay was as per basic norms and drivers were not exploited in the first place.

BOX:

The government has agreed to following demands of wet lease drivers:

1. Revision in salary

2. Free bus passes

3. PL/CL/Wages to be paid on week off as well

4. Retired BEST employees to be removed

5. Discussion on making them permanent BEST bus drivers will be discussed