The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) was granted financial assistance by the BMC on Thursday in the amount of Rs200 crore to cover employee salaries and settle outstanding debts from retiring staff. The civic authorities last month put the Rs. 3,000 crore in funding that the BEST had requested on hold.
When the BEST presented its budget forecasts for the fiscal year 2024–2025, it asked the BMC for assistance. Budget estimates are submitted to the BMC for final approval and funding requests because BEST is a BMC project. Since the fleet’s size has shrunk to 3,000 cars, The BEST is desperately in need of funding.
Out of the 2,978 buses in the BEST, 1,684 are rented vehicles, and the rest fleet is owned by the organization. In accordance with the agreement between the BEST and its labor union, the project must keep 3,300 buses in service. Then BEST General Manager Vijay Singhal had asked the then-municipal commissioner Chahal to seek Rs3,000 crore to buy 2,237 buses gradually because the current state did not satisfy the requirements.
Source: The Free Press Journal
