BEST killing its own staff: Union leader

Suhas Samant of the BEST Kaamgar Sena claimed that horrible working conditions and economic exploitation are forcing the drivers and conductors-among other ground staff-to commit suicides. In the last four months, claimed Samant, 12 workers- five of them daily wagers-have taken the drastic step.

Detailing the problems faced by the workers, Samant said diploma engineers in the electric supply wing of the BEST are virtually forced to work 24 hours. Also, since they stay in areas located on the periphery of the city, they are compelled to travel during odd hours to the city in case of emergencies.

About 15 years ago, as per a housing loan scheme, half of the interest was being paid by the undertaking. This led to several workers leaving the city and shifting to areas like Nallasopara, Navi Mumbai, Mira Bhayander etc. The unintended consequence of this, Samant said, is that the workers have to make long commutes to reach their workplace.

For on ground staff such as bus drivers and the engineers,  this proved to be enormously taxing. To help such employees, Samant demanded that the BEST administration should provide official accommodation within city limits at Rs. 1 per sq ft. BEST GM OP Gupta said, employees are already charged subsidised rents. He said numbers and reasons for suicides will have to be verified before anything could be said.

The issues of daily wagers and junior grade employees were unheard of in the BEST until four years ago as public sector undertaking did not have those positions. However, in 2007, at the time of the Sharad Rao-led BEST union’s strike, several thousand of employees were hired on an emergency basis in an attempt to not let the bus operations be affected.

These employees have, subsequently complained about bad working conditions, lower pay, paid leaves and the absence of social security benefits.