BEST workers have been given a bonus of Rs 10,100 for Diwali but it is Rs 5,400 less than what their counterparts in the BMC are getting. This has irked the trade unions who are terming it an injustice as it was because the BEST buses kept plying so that BMC workers could reach their places of work. The bonus was announced by Mayor Kishori Pednekar.

"This is discrimination. BEST is a part of BMC and last year, too, BEST employees got a bonus of Rs 9,100 while BMC staff got about Rs 15,000. We all know BEST employees kept the services running and have sacrificed lives in the line of duty. Despite all this, they are treated unfairly. No one would have been able to reach their offices if the BEST staff had not have turned up for work to keep buses plying," Shashank Sharad Rao, trade union leader of the BEST Sanyukta Kamgar Kruti Samiti said.