"Wet-lease bus staff have lost all fear" says Corporator after confrontation with driver

Kurla corporator Pravina Morajkar. Pic/By Special Arrangement

" Wet-lease bus staff have lost all fear," said Pravina Morajkar, a corporator from Nehru Nagar, Kurla East, who was insulted after she confronted the driver of an allegedly rashly driven wet-lease BEST bus after it tried to speed towards her last week.

"I was crossing the road at Subhash Shah Chowk in Kurla east when the BEST bus on route number 501 approached at full speed despite the signal ahead being red. I just raised my hand and tried to cross, but the bus did not slow down," Morajkar told mid-day.

‘They need to be counselled'

"I boarded the bus after it stopped at the signal ahead and confronted the driver, to which he roughly replied that he could not stop the bus immediately at that speed. I then identified myself, but he just asked me to get down from the bus and go ahead and file a complaint. This is the kind of wet-lease driver we have. They need to be counselled," said Morajkar, who is also a BEST committee member. She further accused the driver of using a mobile phone while driving and behaving arrogantly with passengers.

Based on the complaint, BEST chairperson Trushna Vishwasrao asked the administration to identify the driver and initiate strict action. The corporator has demanded disciplinary action, saying the incident reflects a worrying disregard for passenger safety and public accountability. The incident assumes significance as it comes just days after the fatal Mankhurd BEST bus accident and amid the undertaking's ongoing safety training programme for more than 5200 wet-lease bus drivers.