Shiv Sena opposes plan to buy mini buses from Force Motors
Shiv Sena members in the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport committee opposed the proposal of buying 100 new mini buses from Force Motors. They suggested the committee to buy these buses from Tata Motors Limited. The members reportedly also claimed that the mini buses won't serve any purpose because their capacity was low compared to regular buses.
Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST)?s plan to procure 100 new mini buses, including 50 air-conditioned ones under Maharashtra government?s Tajaswini scheme for women, may run into a delay. Shiv Sena members in the BEST committee have opposed the proposal of buying them from a particular manufacturer. The opposition came before the administration moved the proposal to the committee. Sources said that the Sena members on the BEST committee have objected to buying buses from Force Motors, claiming that the capacity of these buses was low when compared to regular ones. Also, the mini buses won?t serve any purpose and adversely affect the efficiency of the BEST engineering department, they said.Suhas Samant, a Sena member on the committee said that the buses, which have a steel body will corrode fast like JCBL?buses. He suggested buying 50 buses from Tata.Under its recently launched Tejaswini scheme, the Maharashtra government has allotted Rs90 crore for 300 new buses in cities like Pune, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivli. A senior BEST official said that they were thinking about buying 100 mini buses with a seating capacity of 21 each, under the scheme. They have thought of buying the mini buses made on the lines of Force Motors.Sawant said that some officials were buying these buses, ignoring the larger interest of the undertaking. ?We won?t allow the proposal to get the nod. We do not want people to unnecessarily blame our party for buying these buses,? he said.A BEST official said that they were going for mini buses because they were faster on congested roads. Also, BEST?wanted to launch an app for booking seats.