Mumbai: Women commuters will have to wait a little longer for BEST buses earmarked for them. The BEST committee, which met on Monday, saw an uproar over the Tejaswini scheme under which woman commuters were to be provided with buses that would be exclusively run for woman commuters by woman drivers during peak times. The panel members said that there has been no movement on this since it was approved almost eight months ago.
The ambitious plan has now come crashing down and the opinion of BEST panel members is split between reviving the plan and dropping it. BEST member Suhas Samant said, "I think we should introduce the facility as this would at least get us some commuters, since at present we are only losing our patrons." Another committee member Sunil Ghanacharya said, "I don't know how we will go about getting this plan back on track. We have to consider the financial limitations."
The Tejaswani bus scheme was said to cost Rs 50 crores and if launched, it will run for woman commuters between peak hours 7.00 am to 11.00 am and 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm throughout the city. The proposal was a part of the undertaking’s effort to provide safe and exclusive commute to working women.
Merger of budget
The BEST standing committee has officially passed the proposal of merging the BEST budget with the BMC, but panel members said that it couldn’t be taken lightly by either of the civic bodie. BEST committee chairman Anil Kokil said, "We will have to sit down with the BMC and tell them exactly how much trouble we are in. We will have to show them our books and ask them how much they will be helping the undertaking.
