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By:

Minal Sancheti

2 May 2026 at 12:26:53 pm

BEST strike paralyses Mumbai

Mumbai: For Sai More, an LIC agent, the Friday commute from his home in Century Bazar, Worli to work place in Churchgate, proved as an expensive affair. On a normal day, he spends Rs 12 on a BEST bus fare till Dadar station and then takes the local train to Churchgate. However, he had to shell out more money than his usual spending on the travel. Thanks to the strike by BEST Samyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, a joint action committee comprising 12 unions, pressing for its demands of better wages...

BEST strike paralyses Mumbai

Mumbai: For Sai More, an LIC agent, the Friday commute from his home in Century Bazar, Worli to work place in Churchgate, proved as an expensive affair. On a normal day, he spends Rs 12 on a BEST bus fare till Dadar station and then takes the local train to Churchgate. However, he had to shell out more money than his usual spending on the travel. Thanks to the strike by BEST Samyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, a joint action committee comprising 12 unions, pressing for its demands of better wages and working conditions. The strike paralysed the city’s second life line – the BEST bus. Only 32 of 2,766 buses were operated in the city in a rare collapse of the transport system. The strike forced the government to hold a meeting with the officials and workers later in the day to discuss their demands. More, the sole bread winner in this family, earns Rs 25,000 a month. When he learned about the BEST strike the first went to Aqua Line metro. He boarded the crowded metro from Worli and got down at Dadar. Then he took a local train to Churchgate and hired a share taxi to his office at Nariman Point. “I travel from Dadar to Nariman Point every day using bus and train. But today we faced difficulty because there were no buses. My colleagues and I went together to our office by cab.” The Samiti has been pressing for three demands. Rangnath Satavase, a representative of the Samiti, said, “We don’t want an independent budget for the BEST. You should include it with the BMC’s budget. The employees are facing issues due to salary arrears since 2016. We demand proper wages from 2016 to 2026 and apply seventh Pay Commission recommendations to the BEST workers. The wet lease workers should be included in the BEST as its workers and they should get minimum wages.” The BEST bus operators face many issues because there are fewer BEST buses that are working every day. This makes their work difficult. They complain that their salary has not increased since a long time. Vaishali Chavan, a bus conductor, said, “My salary is Rs 18,000 and I don’t get holidays. Now since they have reduced the number of buses, it is difficult to manage the huge number of passenger crowds. This makes our job tough. So, we demand higher wages and better work conditions.” The operators also claim that they don’t get any holidays except one weekly off. They have to work even during festivals, and if they don’t, their salary gets deducted. Imran Sheikh, a bus driver, said, “We don’t get equal wages. The salary ranges from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month without any holidays. We just get one weekly holiday, but other than that we have to work even on the Labourer’s Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Diwali and Ramzan. If we take leave because of some emergency work, they cut our salaries.” He has been working for two years. “Some of my colleagues have been working for more than five years. Even their salaries have been the same. They promise they will increase, but they never do, and there is no bonus given.” Trushna Vishwasrao, chairperson of the BEST Committee, criticised the workers and said they should not have gone on strike when the BEST is already going through a loss. She said, “We agree with their demands, and we will fulfill it, so there is no need for a strike. It takes time to implement all the demands. We have got a gratuity of Rs five crores that we will be using to compensate the salary, and more funds will be coming, which we will use to fulfill their demands.” She said BEST is running at a deficit in any way. Their strike has also troubled the common public who depend on the BEST buses to travel. Commuters Stranded The strike left commuters stranded during the morning rush hour, with long queues seen at bus stops across the city. They later scrambled for already packed local trains, Metro services, autos, and cabs to reach their workplace. A spokesperson of the civic undertaking said only 48 buses were on Mumbai's roads during the day while some others were forced to return to depots after incidents of stone-pelting and obstruction by striking employees. BEST is Mumbai's second-largest public transport provider after the suburban railway network and carries around 25 lakh passengers daily through its bus services. It also supplies electricity to more than 10 lakh consumers in south and central Mumbai. However, union leaders claimed the strike was 100 per cent successful on the first day. Both transport and power divisions of the BEST took part in the strike. However, power supply to BEST customers in the island city remained unaffected by the agitation. Many passengers were forced to rely on alternative modes of transport, such as suburban trains, Metro services, autorickshaws, taxis, and app-based cabs, while others reported delays in reaching their workplaces and educational institutions. "During weekdays, I travel to work by public transport, but today I took my bike out as there were no buses on the roads," said Sachin Nalawade, who works as a consultant. The strike commenced despite an ad-interim order passed by an industrial court restraining employees from resorting to a strike and the Maharashtra government's invocation of the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), which prohibits the disruption of essential services. “Shared autorickshaws usually charge Rs 30 from Bharat Nagar to Bandra or Kurla, but today drivers were charging as they pleased. Some were demanding Rs 40 to Rs 50,” an employee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said. "The issue is not merely that of workers. It is the outcome of the BJP-led Mahayuti government's negligence and wrong policies. It was known to the administration that employees were planning to go on strike. Was the government asleep until lakhs of Mumbaikars were held to ransom? Who will take responsibility for allowing the situation to deteriorate to the point where BEST services came to a halt?" Varsha Gaikwad, President, Mumbai Congress

Seamless link to redefine Mumbai-Pune mobility

MMRDA advances Atal Setu connector

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is advancing a critical infrastructure link that promises to fundamentally transform connectivity between Mumbai and Pune. The under-construction corridor connecting the Atal Setu with the Mumbai–Pune Expressway is emerging as a strategic intervention aimed at eliminating long-standing inefficiencies in regional travel and logistics.


While construction progress has been steady, the larger importance of the 7.35-kilometre, six-lane elevated corridor lies in its ability to create a seamless, signal-free route between two of Maharashtra’s most vital economic centres. At present, commuters and freight traffic exiting Atal Setu must navigate circuitous and often congested routes to access the expressway. The new connector, routed via Chirle and Palaspe, will remove this bottleneck, enabling uninterrupted high-speed travel across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).


Urban planners view this project as more than a routine road development. By directly integrating the trans-harbour link with the expressway network, the corridor effectively stitches together key transport infrastructure, creating a unified mobility spine. This is expected to significantly reduce travel time variability—one of the most persistent challenges for both daily commuters and commercial transport operators.


The implications extend beyond mobility. The connector is poised to accelerate the de-centralisation of economic activity away from Mumbai’s saturated island city. Faster access to Navi Mumbai and peripheral growth centres is likely to make these regions more attractive for residential, commercial and industrial development. In turn, this could ease pressure on core urban areas while promoting more balanced regional growth under the broader “Mumbai 3.0” framework.


A major strategic advantage of the project is its integration with the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. Once operational, the corridor will provide direct and efficient access from Mumbai to the airport, while also strengthening onward connectivity to Pune. This is expected to expand the airport’s effective catchment area and improve its competitiveness as a major aviation hub. For industries reliant on time-sensitive logistics, such connectivity could prove particularly valuable.


Economic Centres

The corridor also has the potential to reshape the relationship between Mumbai and Pune as economic centres. With reduced travel times and improved reliability, intercity commuting could become increasingly viable, allowing professionals to live in one city and work in another. This increased fluidity is likely to deepen economic linkages, enhance labour mobility, and support the emergence of a more integrated regional economy.


Speaking on the project’s significance, Metropolitan Commissioner Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee emphasised its role in simplifying everyday travel. “This connector will enable Mumbaikars to access the Mumbai–Pune Expressway without any signal interruptions, creating a faster and more seamless travel corridor through Atal Setu,” said Mukherjee. “It will significantly benefit students, working professionals and those commuting between Mumbai and Pune—making it easier to live in one city and work or study in the other.”


He added that the project aligns with MMRDA’s long-term vision of integrated infrastructure planning. “This is exactly what Mumbai 3.0 and ‘Mumbai in Minutes’ aim to achieve—bringing regions closer and making everyday journeys simpler, quicker, and more efficient,” Mukherjee said.


Scheduled for completion by early 2027, the connector is expected to deliver benefits that extend well beyond its physical footprint. By addressing a critical missing link in the region’s transport network, it underscores a broader shift toward strategic, network-driven infrastructure development—where the focus is not merely on building new assets, but on maximising their collective impact.

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