January 18: The BEST's safest drivers are the new benchmark for Mumbai's unsafe roads. Only 24 out of the 10,000 BEST drivers have been able to achieve an accident-free record in the last ten years.While the transport undertaking acknowledged their feat at a felicitation programme held on Thursday, the heroes, in an exclusive tete-a-tete with Express Newsline at the BEST's Wadala Depot, expressed their concern over what one of them referred to as the "choking to death" of Mumbai roads. Though fiercely proud of his driving skills, Maruti Shankar Inamdar, 52 often misses the "good old times when driving on city roads was a delightful experience." He has been with the BEST for 16 years and is currently attached to the Colaba depot. "A traffic jam used to be rare occurrence and would be discussed for weeks. Now, we spend more time in jams and less is discussions," Inamdar adds.
He is not the only one wishing to turn back the clock. Tukaram Ramdeo Kadam, who works at the Goregaon depot, joined BEST as
a driver because he wanted to see the city. "I came from my native place for sight-seeing and ended up with the BEST." Lachiram Sudhairam, who passed his SSC in Uttar Pradesh, too came to Mumbai for a job. "I drove a school bus for some months before getting a job here." They both swear that their job has become much more difficult than it was ten years back.
Proudly sporting his medals conferred on him by the BEST for uttam karya (good work), Ramchandra Laxman Surve from the Ghatkopar depot agrees. "The roads in this city have not grown, but the population has reached alarming levels...the city is becoming smaller by the day. To add to this, at least 100 new cars roll out every day from company showrooms making driving a formidable experience," he says. Babban Gafoor Attar from Govandi depot is of the opinion that construction of any number of bridges and flyovers in the city will not help ease the traffic. "They should impose a ban on production of cars," is his simple solution.
However, they
all are quite determined to maintain their clean record. While the BEST conducts workshops in driving, they believe that inclination to learn is more important. "What one needs is inclination to learn safe driving. Unfortunately, very few of the new drivers realise this fact." And what is the secret of their success - fear of punishment? "I don't think anybody's too bothered about their bosses. The only thing that forces them to keep their head and drive cautiously is the fear of public wrath," said Ashruba Haribhau Ambkar from Pratiksha Nagar depot.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
