Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport’s (BEST) 79th foundation day celebrations turned sour after a 56-year-old BMC sanitation worker was fatally run over by a bus when she was crossing the road at a traffic signal in Mulund West on Friday afternoon. This is the fourth fatal mishap involving a BEST bus since June.The bus driver, Ravi Bhagvanta Bolij (32), was arrested shortly after he and conductor Shailesh Sudhakar Wagh (26) were taken to Mulund police station.A senior BEST official told TOI that prima facie it is ‘driver error’ and Mulund police, who have registered an accidental death report, were also probing this angle. Police said they are examining CCTV footage, recording eyewitness statements, and collecting other evidence as part of the probe.The incident took place around 2.35pm, when the BEST bus, operating on the Nerul-Mulund Check Naka route, halted at a traffic signal at Maharana Pratap Chowk. As the signal turned green and Bolij started the vehicle, Jayshree Bhanji Parmar, who was crossing the road, came under the front right tyre and suffered grievous head injuries, an official said. She was rushed to the nearby M T Agarwal Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. The body was sent to Rajawadi Hospital for postmortem examination before being handed over to her family.Parmar, who worked with the BMC as a sanitation worker and lived in Nalasopara, was two years away from retirement, said her daughter Dipali Waghela.Police said the bus involved in the accident had been wet-leased from private operator Mateshwari.The latest tragedy has reignited debate over the increasing number of accidents involving wet-leased buses. Commenting on the crashes over the past few months, senior BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya alleged that accidents have increased due to inadequate driver training and growing dependence on wet-lease operators. “Such incidents were rare earlier. Wet-lease drivers do not face the same level of accountability and disciplinary action as permanent BEST drivers. They are not governed by any rules of BEST, which is why there is no fear,” he said.While BEST has announced plans to gradually reduce its reliance on wet-lease buses and induct around 5,000 owned buses, Ganacharya urged BMC to provide advance funding to speed up fleet acquisition. “Otherwise, accidents involving wet-lease buses could continue unchecked for the next two to three years,” he warned.BEST committee chairperson Trushna Vishwasrao had recently directed wet-lease operators to ensure drivers were sensitised and buses technically sound. She also said officials from transport and engineering departments had failed to adequately monitor vehicle maintenance, driver training and compliance checks, contributing to the recent spate of accidents.RECENT CASES OF PEDESTRIANS HIT BY BEST BUSES :July 20 : A 62-year-old pedestrian was killed and 10 people, including a BEST bus driver and conductor, were injured after a bus crashed into the railing of the Mankhurd Bridge. BEST officials blamed it on driver error while the latter claimed it was a ‘brake failure’July 10 : Two pedestrians suffered injuries after a wet-lease BEST bus lost control and rammed into 14 vehicles at Amboli naka in Andheri WestJuly 8: A 43-year-old pedestrian was injured after being struck by a BEST bus during a reversing manoeuvre near Konkan Nagar in Bhandup. The incident occurred around 8.30am and involved a wet lease bus operating on Route A-425 from Oshiwara depot. During the manoeuvre, the rear portion of the bus reportedly came into contact with Atul Anant Padave, leaving him trapped between a large tree planter and the busJune 8: A BEST electric air-conditioned bus rammed into multiple vehicles in heavy traffic opposite Plaza Cinema in Dadar, killing a 22-year-old delivery executive and injuring six others. Shivaji Park police registered a case against the driver, Vikas PadaveJune 4: An accident involving a BEST bus on route 440 near Pushpa Park in Borivli claimed the life of a 50-year-old car driver
