Political parties trade charges over mishap

MUMBAI: Not 24 hours after a runaway BEST claimed 7 lives and left 42 other injured in Kurla (West) on Monday night, politicians have begun trading charges over the horrific accident.

- Yogesh Naik

The focus of their charges is the wet-lease system adopted by the BEST as the bus involved in the crash had been wet-leased by the undertaking. Police sources said the driver who had caused the crash had begun driving the BEST bus just a fortnight ago. Before that, he had been driving a significantly smaller bus.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is blaming Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray for the BEST's decision to wet-lease buses, while the Sena (UBT) is blaming the Mahayuti government for ignoring the allegedly sorry state of the undertaking.

The Congress has demanded that the BEST drop the practice of wet-leasing buses.

The undertaking, which adopted this practice as a cost-cutting measure in 2017, has 1,900 buses on wet lease in a fleet of 2,913 vehicles. Under this system, buses are leased from private contractors along with drivers. Maintenance is also the contractor's responsibility.