Day 3 of BEST strike: Mumbai commuters suffer, NEET gets priority

Mumbai's lifeline bus network remained largely paralysed on Sunday as the indefinite strike by employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking entered its third day, leaving millions of commuters scrambling for alternatives and placing immense pressure on the city's transport infrastructure.

With thousands of buses off the roads, packed local trains, overcrowded Metro services and soaring demand for taxis and autorickshaws became the new reality for Mumbai's daily commuters.

Despite the disruption, BEST said it had deployed more than 100 buses to ensure students appearing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) re-examination could reach their examination centres without difficulty.

The strike, called by the BEST Sanyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, has effectively brought the civic-run bus service to a standstill since Friday. The agitation has continued despite the Maharashtra government's invocation of the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) and an industrial court's interim order directing employees not to resort to a strike.

The protest has drawn participation from permanent and temporary BEST employees as well as workers employed by wet-lease operators, severely affecting operations across the city.

Authorities intensified efforts to break the deadlock on Saturday by issuing MESMA notices to striking employees and wet-lease contractors, warning that legal action could follow if the strike continues.

BEST, Mumbai's second-largest public transport provider after the suburban railway network, operates a fleet of 2,766 buses and serves nearly 2.5 million passengers every day.

The scale of the disruption has been unprecedented. On the first day of the strike, only 48 buses remained operational, while several others were reportedly forced back to depots amid incidents of obstruction and stone-pelting. Conditions worsened on Saturday, with just four buses seen on the roads during the first half of the day.

Attendance among drivers, conductors and operational staff also remained abysmally low.

Efforts to resolve the crisis have so far failed to yield a breakthrough. Maharashtra transport minister Pratap Sarnaik held discussions with union representatives, senior officials from the Urban Transport Department and the BEST administration on Friday, but the talks ended without a resolution.

The unions leading the agitation have indicated they remain open to negotiations.

"We are ready for talks with the government at any time," union representatives said in a statement on Saturday, urging the state leadership to take an early decision on their long-pending demands.

At the heart of the dispute are demands for the merger of BEST's budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, settlement of dues owed to retired employees, abolition of contractual arrangements in transport and electricity operations, and absorption of wet-lease workers into the BEST workforce.

Meanwhile, the strike is exacting a growing cost on commuters.

Metro stations have witnessed a surge in ridership, suburban trains are running packed beyond capacity, and many office-goers have opted to work from home to avoid the daily travel ordeal. Those forced to commute have reported longer waiting times, crowded platforms and significantly higher transport expenses due to the absence of buses.

With neither side showing signs of backing down and union leaders insisting the agitation will continue until concrete assurances are received, Mumbai faces the prospect of prolonged transport chaos in the days ahead.

With PTI inputs