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Mumbai: The BEST Kamgar Sena, the union of Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), observed a black armband protest involving workers of BEST on Thursday. Among the demands is an end to the system of having buses on wet lease, and BEST should procure its own buses. The Sena union will be meeting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with their list of demands in a few days.
Former BEST committee member Suhas Samant from Sena UBT demanded a detailed probe from the police. The drivers were made to work under pressure, and there is more than meets the eye, he said, adding that the contract firm should also be probed. He alleged that some of the wet lease firms have poor maintenance, and this has brought a bad name to BEST, which has one of the best maintenance staff for its own buses.
The union has demanded that the BMC should address issues such as the growing deficit in the BEST transport department, the decreasing bus fleet, rising bus accidents, and the contractual bus service. A senior BMC official said that the civic body has been constantly supporting public transport in Mumbai and financially aiding the BEST for the past many years, and will continue to do so.
Meanwhile, another union, BEST Workers Union, declared that it will organise a massive morcha to Mantralaya on January 15 to demand the scrapping of wet lease buses.
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