Bus commuters’ woes showed no sign of ending on Friday as wet-lease workers held the BEST undertaking to ransom for the third consecutive day. Eighteen of the city’s 27 bus depots were affected and over 1,375 buses did not ply. The state government pressed Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses into service on city routes. BEST’s trade unions jumped into the agitation and supported the wet-lease staff’s strike call, bringing five key demands of theirs to the notice of the chief minister’s office.

“As per a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 11, 2019, it was mandatory and legally binding on the BEST administration to maintain 3,337 self-owned buses in its fleet but it has obtained about 1,800 buses on the wet-lease model and has not respected the MoU. Moreover, workers on leased buses are not being treated properly,” said Shashank Sharad Rao of Sangharsh Kamgaar Karmachari Union.