Videos of BEST drivers with booze stash go Viral

Transport utility orders investigation into the videos

- HT Correspondent

MUMBAI: Even as the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking is trying to put its house in order following the accident on a busy Kurla street on Monday, which left seven dead and 42 injured, two videos of uniformed BEST drivers stashing bottles of alcohol in their respective driving consoles did the rounds on social media on Thursday, underscoring the need for stringent and frequent checks of the on-duty drivers.

In one of the videos a driver is seen buying a bottle of liquor from a local wine shop and walking up to a stationary bus (MH-01-DR-7824). On being questioned by unidentified onlookers as he enters the bus, he is heard denying being drunk, which leads to a heated exchange between him and the group of people. In the second video, a security officer is seen questioning the driver of a bus (whose number is not fully clear in video), holding up a half-empty bottle of liquor. The driver is heard telling the officer: "I am drunk but this is not my bottle."

BEST sources told HT that while the first video "possibly taken somewhere in Bandra East" is being scrutinised by the department, the second one was most likely taken somewhere between Ghatkopar and Mulund, as while inspecting the bus at the Mulund depot, a security guard found a liquor bottle kept behind the driver's seat last month. The incident took place in mid-November around the time of the assembly election.