BEST employees begin indefinite strike

About 50 lakh commuters, who ply on Bombay Electric Supply and Transport undertaking, have been hit hard as the BEST employees began an indefinite strike on Friday demanding pay revision.

Nearly 3,200 BEST buses will stay off the road on Friday while as many as 44,000 BEST employees joined the stir called in support of their pay revision demands.

Although an Industrial Court has termed the strike call as illegal, and the BEST has warned disciplinary action against employees participating in the stir, sources said that the stir is likely to hit the city and suburban bus transport system.

The BEST management held

a round of discussions with the leaders of BEST employees unions, but the meeting ended inconclusively, prompting unions to announce that they will go ahead with the stir. One more round of discussion is slated to take place during the day to resolve the issue, sources said.

The stir has been called following the BEST management's decision to block dearness allowance from Friday and stop interim relief recommended by the pay revision committee, the sources said.

The BEST employees' unions and the management are at loggerheads over the Justice Kurdukar pay revision committee, whose recommendations are not acceptable to the employees.