On the Monday morning of January 13 2025, the contractual employees of a private operator, that the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) company hired, went on a flash strike at one of their depots in Mumbai and it caused a partial effect on the BEST bus services
BEST did not reportedly reveal the exact cause of the walkout, but according to a trusted source, it was brought on by the private operator’s executives that was believed to be mistreating a pregnant conductor.
According to the initial reports, the conductor also asked her management for fewer responsibilities because she was far along in her pregnancy which was obvious, but the proposal was disrespectfully turned down from the management with no reason. Other conductors along with drivers from Mateshwari Urban Transport, the wet lease business in charge of the impacted buses obviously expressed their displeasure.
While also, a union spokesman said that over 100 buses of the private operator were off the road and a BEST official stated that “the strike was restricted to the Pratiksha Nagar depot and that the services were only impacted on some of the routes”.
Notably, BEST was operating without an executive manager for almost a week. BEST serves over 30 lakh people every day and runs close to 3,000 busses.
The role is now being handled by someone another Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner. BEST public relations officer that is, Sudas Sawant also informed that buses on some routes were not operating and travelling because Mateshwari, a wet lease operator, was on strike over their demands.
Additionally, he also stated that bus operations at the other BEST depots were not impacted much and that the strike was restricted to the Pratiksha Nagar depot.
“Mateshwari runs 110 buses from the Pratiksha Nagar depot, but none of them have been operating since the strike started inmorning” according to BEST workers union leader Suhas Samant. Officials from Mateshwari were also unable to be contacted for commenting on this issue.