The administration and the committee that govern the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking might be headed towards a logjam.
During the committee meeting on Friday, tempers flared as members decided not to pass three proposals, one of which involved the appointment of a consultant and another regarding a tender for a call centre.
“In my 20 years in the BEST committee, I have never seen so much friction between the committee and the general manager,” said Ravi Raja, senior Congress corporator and a member of the committee.
The flare-up occurred on account of a letter written by BEST General Manager Surendrakumar Bagde to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta stating that the committee’s resolution to allow Trimax IT Infrastructure and Services to continue providing electronic ticket issuing machines (ETIMs) was “bad in law”.
Bharatiya Janata Party corporator, Sunil Ganacharya, said the letter was a stab in the committee’s back. He said, “The committee passed a proposal drafted and presented by the former GM.”
Mr. Raja said if this was to be the case, proposals will need to come with a rider stating that the committee not be held responsible in case it was found to be “bad in law”. Mr. Raja used the phrase to describe the proposal for the appointment of a consultant, which had come before the committee.
The consumers will be the worst affected by the deadlock between the committee and the administration as key initiatives such as the Intelligent Transport Management System continue to be on paper, while ETIMs become increasingly undependable.
The deadlock also extends to procurement of new buses, which is crucial for the ailing transport utility. With losses amounting to nearly ₹2,000 crore, BEST has seen its ridership drop to nearly 25 lakh, which was 42 lakh a decade ago.