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By:

Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Hostage City

For a city that prides itself on never stopping, Mumbai has been brought to a grinding halt by the stoppage of one of its most indispensable services. The indefinite strike by employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has effectively paralysed the city’s bus network, leaving millions of commuters stranded and exposing deep fissures in the management of one of India’s largest urban transport systems. BEST ferries around 25 lakh passengers daily through a...

Hostage City

For a city that prides itself on never stopping, Mumbai has been brought to a grinding halt by the stoppage of one of its most indispensable services. The indefinite strike by employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has effectively paralysed the city’s bus network, leaving millions of commuters stranded and exposing deep fissures in the management of one of India’s largest urban transport systems. BEST ferries around 25 lakh passengers daily through a fleet of nearly 2,800 buses. Yet over the past three days, the city has witnessed the near-total collapse of this network. On the first day of the strike, only a few dozen buses operated. By the weekend, not a single BEST-owned or wet-lease bus was on the roads. Local trains, Metro services, taxis and autorickshaws have been forced to absorb the shock and are predictably straining under the burden. The strike may be illegal under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), and the industrial court may have ordered employees back to work. Yet laws and court orders cannot substitute for sound governance. When a public utility reaches the point where thousands of workers are willing to risk disciplinary action and legal consequences, it signals a failure that predates the strike itself. The demands raised by the unions are hardly new. Employees have long sought implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, settlement of retirement dues, an end to contractualisation and the merger of the BEST budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Whether one agrees with every demand is beside the point. What is striking is that these issues have been allowed to fester for years without a credible roadmap for resolution. Equally troubling is the government’s reactive approach. Ministers and officials rushed into negotiations only after services collapsed and public inconvenience reached intolerable levels. Such crisis management has become a familiar feature of governance. The unions, too, must recognise the wider consequences of their actions. Public transport is the bloodstream of a city. Every day the strike continues, daily wage earners lose income and ordinary citizens bear higher travel costs. The disruption disproportionately hurts those who can least afford alternatives. Holding Mumbai hostage may attract attention to legitimate grievances, but also risks eroding public sympathy. Mumbai has spent years celebrating new Metro corridors, coastal roads and grand infrastructure projects. Yet the humble bus remains the most affordable and accessible mode of transport for millions. Policymakers often treat BEST as an ageing institution to be managed rather than a vital public service to be strengthened. The increasing reliance on contract workers and wet-lease operations may reduce immediate costs, but also weakens institutional stability and labour relations. A city of Mumbai’s scale cannot afford a public transport system perpetually balanced on the edge of financial distress, labour unrest and administrative uncertainty. Nor can it depend on emergency measures whenever disputes arise.

MNS helped UBT win half of its total tally

Updated: Nov 29, 2024

MNS

Mumbai: Though Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) had not supported the Mahayuti in assembly election, unlike they did in the Lok Sabha, Raj Thackeray had asserted that the party shall be part of the government if Mahayuti returns to power in the state. However, while the party couldn’t get any of its candidate elected, it seems that their presence has actually helped the Shiv Sena (UBT) win at least half of their seats. This has further reduced the chances of MNS getting any share of power in the state government now.


A closer look at the votes polled by the MNS shows that it has helped the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates at least on 10 seats where the MNS candidates remained in the third position and Mahayuti candidates lost the seat by margins lower than the votes polled by the MNS candidates. Vikroli, Kogeshwari East, Dindoshi, Kalina, Vandre East, Mahim and Worli are the seven out of these 10 constituencies where the UBT clearly seems to have gained sufficient margin to win the seats because of the MNS candidates.


One can look at the most spectacular triangular contest in Mumbai that took place in the Worli constituency. Shiv Sena (UBT) scion Aditya Thackeray who fetched 63,324 votes defeated Milind Deora of Shiv Sena by 8801 votes. Deora got 54,523 votes while the third candidate Sandeep Deshpande of the MNS fetched 19,367 votes.


Deora said that all efforts were made to turn the MNS to its favour. “We were in touch with them. We even met some of their demands. But, after a limit they started becoming impracticable and it wasn’t possible to meet all their demands. We knew that it was not their purpose, yet, they became the ‘B’ team of Shiv Sena (UBT),” he added.


In Dindoshi Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Nirupam lost by 6182 votes to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sunil Prabhu, where the MNS candidate fetched 20,309 votes. Data like this further strengthens the ‘B’-team rhetoric. While reacting to the results Nirupam Said, “In 2009 people felt that the MNS was eating up the Shiv Sena votes which benefitted the Congress. However, at least on seven seats in Mumbai, the MNS grabbed Marathi votes and in turn helped the Shiv Sena (UBT). We realized this during the campaign. But, by then it was too late to rectify that.”


Raj Thackeray’s son Amit stood third in the bastion of undivided Shiv Sena – Mahim. This is the home constituency of Raj Thackeray. In the triangular contest between MNS’ Amit, Shiv Sena’s Sada Sarvankar and UBT’s Mahesh Sawant in this constituency Sawant won by 1316 votes while Amit could fetch only 17,151 votes.


Interestingly, the MNS had not fielded any candidate in any of the 16 constituencies where Congress won or the 10 constituencies where NCP-SP won. This clearly indicates that though MNS had vouched support to the Mahayuti, they were actually helping the MVA. However, the voters in the state rejected them. The MNS could gather only about 1.8 percent votes in the state even though they had contested 125 seats. This is likely to affect the party’s status and may also lead them in losing their party symbol.

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