A bus q-shelter or covered bus stop with seats for commuters installed by the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) in Andheri East has gone missing, replaced by a new one bearing the name of the local Shiv Sena MLA, Murji Patel.
“There is no clarity about whether the (BEST) administration granted official permission for installation of a new bus shelter, and who funded the same. It is also not clear if a tender process was followed,” participants at the meeting quoted Patil saying. If this bus stop was built without necessary permits, the BEST administration should not support such unauthorised construction.”
In a letter to the BEST administration, Patil said, “The BEST is a public transport organisation and it is essential to follow rules when using its name, logo and public facilities. But BEST officials said they were informed about the change only two days ago and on Friday, the matter was discussed at the BEST Committee meeting after one of the members, Sachin Patil from Shiv Sena (UBT) Sena, raised the issue.
BEST committee chairperson Trushna Vishwasrao has also directed the administration to conduct a detailed inspection at all sites where political party leaders have allegedly made changes to bus stops.
Pursuant to Patil’s letter, the BEST administration initiated an inquiry and lodged a missing complaint with the police regarding the previous bus shelter, a BEST official said. Senior BEST officials said they would check the norms for bus stop makeovers, as they suspected that the new bus stop at ‘Shri Andheri KVO Sewa Samaj Chowk’ violated the authorised template for bus q-shelters.
