No parking for BEST buses at Wadala

At least 51 buses begin their journey to five separate routes across the city from the bus stops in Sector 2 of the CGS Colony and the Sheikh Mistry Dargah (SMD) road in Wadala where they are parked during the day.

Most of these BEST buses have to contend with bare roads for parking and their drivers and conductors make do with sooty containers, surrounded by filth, for lack of a clean resting place.

BEST administration seems to care less.  This, in spite the fact that BEST holds a plot of civic land developed and offered to it by the BMC.

Lakshman Katme, a starter at the BEST bus stop who monitors the bus movements in the area, said that the situation was worse about four to five months ago, since all the buses were parked on the busy SMD road. This would result in a traffic snarl when any bus tried to take a U-turn, which was often.

The large BMC plot, meanwhile, has been reduced to a multipurpose open space. Children flying kites, people playing cricket and other such activities is a common sight.

BEST committee member Ravi Raja said that there has been a delay of more than a year in procuring the plot from the BMC.

“There is no follow-up on part of the BEST administration. Simply shooting off a letter to the BMC will not work. The BEST should take the initiative to fast-track the process of procuring the plot so that a new bus station can be created,” Raja said to DNA.

BEST committee chairman, Sanjay Potnis, sought to assure that the transport undertaking was serious about acquiring and developing the plot soon. “The acquisition procedure is on,” he said.