Maha Chief Secretary to meet BEST union leaders tomorrow

Maharashtra Chief Secretary D K Jain will meet union leaders Saturday in a bid to end the ongoing strike of the employees of the city bus service undertaking 'BEST'.

Following the directions of the Bombay High Court, the chief secretary met secretaries of the transport and urban development departments and the general manager of BEST Friday evening.

"However, this meeting was brief as union leaders said they will first hold a meeting with their own members and then hold discussions with the government tomorrow morning," a government official who attended the meeting said.

"So a meeting has been fixed at 11 am Saturday," he said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has once again made it clear that it is not in favour of merging the BMC's and the loss-making transport undertaking's budgets, as demanded by the union, the official said.

Saturday's meeting will be chaired by the chief secretary, and is expected to be attended by Transport and Urban Development ...