BEST admin, panel in a tiff over procuring paper tickets

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport's (BEST) woes have only furthered with another issue refusing to settle. The BEST administration and committee are in a tussle over the procurement of colourful paper tickets.

On Monday, the undertaking's administration proposed the procurement of 10,000 packets of paper tickets at the cost of Rs 48 lakh. Sources have said the administration has the power to buy things if the proposal is below Rs 50 lakh. The committee, however, said that they had on October 23 objected to the proposal of reintroducing paper tickets instead of electronic tickets issuing machines (ETIMs).

"It has become necessary to procure paper tickets as ETIMs are not working," said a BEST official. According to the administration, BEST conductors will be unable to issue tickets to passengers if the paper tickets are not introduced.

Suhas Samant, BEST Committee member, objected to the proposal too. Presently, the conductors have stopped carrying ETIMs and instead made a makeshift black coloured pouch that contains both coins and paper tickets.

The BEST had to get back to paper tickets over the past four months due to malfunctioning ETIMs. The administration had earlier presented a proposal to procure 36,000 ticket blocks worth Rs 1.71 crore, which was rejected.