The BEST Sena Workers Union also supported the strike and president Suhas Samant opined that the Mayor Nandu Satam could have intervened and averted it.

However, Satam did not expect a massive response to the strike and said that the workers should have waited for two more days till the MiC decision was spelt out. ``As some MiC members were out of town, I could not prepone the meeting and hence the union will have to wait till tomorrow,'' he observed. He also claimed that discussions with the union regarding the bonus would start only after it had been declared, as has been the practice.

Meanwhile, Nerkar has said that the bonusfor the workers would exceed that of last year and asked for time till tomorrow. ``The final decision will be taken by the Mayor-in-Council, but I assure the workers that it will only be more, not less than last year,'' he said. He also claimed that a decision would be taken on the issues of medical insurance and pension within three months.

The agitation, led by the BEST Workers' Union with the support of two other unions, kept all of 3000-odd buses off the road. Three buses left the depots today for employees but had not returned till late evening. According to officials at BEST, only 34 out of more than 9300 conductors and 16 out of nearly 7700 bus drivers reported for work. In the electric supply sector, the offices reported attendance of less than 25 per cent, while only six out of 28 bill collection centres could be operated.

The brunt of the rush was borne by the railways. Both the Central and the Western Railways had extended peak hours till late afternoon and late night. ``Officers were posted atstations to prevent any untoward incidents there,'' said WR PRO Vinod Asthana.

Meanwhile, autorickshaws and taxis were in great demand and charged twice or thrice the fare while refusing short distance calls. In Kurla and Chunabhatti angry commuters charged towards a BEST counter, however, some elderly gentlemen pacified the angry crowd. Luxury buses ran between Andheri railway station and places like Versova, Yari Road and Swami Samarth Nagar at Lokhandwala Complex charging passengers Rs 5 instead of the regular BEST fare of Rs 3. ``In fact, these are much better luxury buses than the ones run by the BEST, we are glad to pay two rupees more'' commented a passenger in one of these buses.

The BEST unions have been demanding 20 per cent bonus this year coupled with the introduction of family medical insurance schemes and pension for retired employees. They also want a gift on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the undertaking.

Last year BEST employees had received 8.33 per cent of their salary alongwith Rs 2,500 as bonus. But this year the state government issued guidelines stating that the bonus should be limited to 8.33 per cent of salary alone and not exceed Rs 2,500. This has raised the unions' ire whose demands also include extension of medical insurance to the families of the employees and introduction of pension for them.

Rao claims that the state government guidelines are not applicable to BEST since it is not a state government undertaking, but BEST Committee chairperson Arvind Nerkar has countered this saying that since the agreement between the BEST management and the employees ended this year, the guidelines would have to be taken into account while fixing the bonus payment.

Tomorrow, BEST workers will hold a rally at 6pm in Maharashtra High School while at 5pm, activists from the rickshaw and taxi unions apart from BMC workers will be gathering at N M Joshi Hall in Parel to express their solidarity with the agitating workers. ``A decision regarding participation of these unions in theagitation will be taken tomorrow,'' said Rao.