There are over 42,000 BEST employees and 3,500 BEST buses. So they are one of the lifelines of the city and if they aren't working, typically means overcrowded trains, congested roads, taxi drivers demanding more money from the passenger even for short distances.
Its a nightmare for the working class people which is the majority of Mumbai's population, migrants from around the country come to Bombay to fulfill their materialistic dreams and desires.
BEST union leaders said they were not responsible for the commuters' plight. "Commuters should ask the BEST management about this. It is the BEST workers who come forward and provide undisrupted service to people during water logging, fire or riots. Our services to the people should not be forgotten," the general secretary of the employees union, told IANS.
Agreed, but its the Government who should take notice of their service and pay them well enough. If you take a look at the salary structure the bus conductors (the person who accepts your money and provides you with a ticket) and drivers get, its appalling. The data is as on March 2004, but am sure not much has changed in the last 3 years, the BEST site is not updated.
A BEST conductor can get a maximum of Rs 10,737 and a bus driver Rs 10,909. They work hard too, spend long hours in crowded buses, I think they deserve to be paid more. If that was the case, then there would have been no strike, no disruption.Salary Source
Another perspective to the issue, it seems the current salaries have gone up to Rs 15,000 in 2007, and the BEST is not really making a profit, according to the audited financial balance sheet for 2005-06, BEST incurred a net loss of Rs 178.95 crore.
In the graph below, the green indicates the loss, while the blue the earnings and red the spendings.
Looks like the BEST needs someone like Lalu, who turned the loss making Indian Railways into a profitable organization.
The traffic policemen had a tough job today due to the additional amount of cars on the road due, to the strike. The number of traffic police seemed to be more than usual due to the chaos on the streets of Bombay.
Due to the increase in private vehicles, rickshaws and taxis caused by the bus strike, a journey that usually takes an hour by car, around 20 Km, took two and a half hours today. The peak traffic usually ends at 9 PM was prevalent even after 10.30 PM. 
These strikes will also have a drastic impact on the environment, with regards to air pollution and global warming. It seems the strike will be on for atleast 72 hours.
Falling Standards of Newspapers!
Now most of the newspapers in Mumbai have the same content on this issue. Take a look:
- Times of India
- Hindustan Times
-India eNews
Why can't they focus on the bigger picture? I mean where does the problem actually lie? Why do these strikes happen often? Isn't that what journalism is suppose to be?
We are really disappointed with the deteriorating standards of journalism.
The only news or rather 'irrelevant stories' they write about is the wedding of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The news about their pre-wedding ceremonies, list of invitees etc is spread across several pages in a newspaper. What difference does it make to any of our lives? Have they done anything significant to deserve this kind of publicity?
There are serious issues to tackle here, and a blog is a great platform to write on the grave issues facing this society and world. Its high time we start taking notice, appreciating and giving people what they deserve.
Resources:
BEST Site
BEST
BEST may terminate its striking staff
BEST union firm on demand
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