BEST-Hansa Group impasse continues, commuters suffer

MUMBAI: The deadlock between the BEST undertaking and its wet-lease operator, Hansa Group of Companies, continues with no resolution in sight despite a two-hour marathon meeting between both parties on Wednesday. Sources said that the operator has demanded ₹90 crore from BEST, which was deducted over the years on various grounds, and threatened to withdraw its 280 buses permanently if its demands are not met by Diwali.
The Hansa Group has also filed for bankruptcy with the NCLT. “The operator is seeking financial assistance,” said a BEST official. “It has indicated that it will back out of the contract unless this is provided. However, we have insisted on its resuming services first; only then will BEST think of ways to provide financial aid and other assistance. As of now, we have not reached a solution, but we are working on it.”
Hansa, according to BEST sources, has blamed the undertaking for not adding buses to its own fleet, which led to immense pressure on Hansa’s smaller buses on account of overcrowding during peak hours. The small 31-seater buses were meant to operate on feeder routes but were running on trunk routes. “Heavy repairs were necessitated and the air-conditioning system was impacted by operating overcrowded buses,” said a source. “There was thus a big increase in maintenance costs.”
On Wednesday evening, BEST was devising ways to bring Hansa’s 280 buses, which are parked in various depots, back on the road. Sources in BEST said that its 6,000 in-house drivers would be able to drive only 140 of them in addition to BEST’s own fleet.
HT had reported on the undertaking’s ultimatum to Hansa to resume operations or get blacklisted. BEST officials said that a monthly payment of ₹2.50 crore was paid to Hansa last month after deducting penalties.
“We have insisted that bus operations should resume as soon as possible, as citizens are being inconvenienced,” said Sharad Rao, BEST union leader. “Employees of the wet-lease operator should be allowed to mark attendance at the three depots, and BEST authorities should protect their interests as well.” The Hansa Group has around 1,000 employees whose livelihood has been affected although sources said they were paid their recent salaries.
With nearly 10% of BEST’s total fleet off the road, the crowd and waiting period at bus stops have both gone up. “The buses are delayed by 15 to 20 minutes, making it difficult during peak hours,” said Jogeshwari resident S Gupta. BEST authorities said they were deputing additional staff for crowd control, and their depot staff was also on the ground.