BEST workers homes, children employment opportunity part of promises for BEST cooperative society polls

MUMBAI : Against the backdrop of the five-yearly elections (2025–2030) to the Board of Directors of The BEST Employees Co-operative Credit Society Ltd., state MLAs Prasad Lad and Pravin Darekar on Wednesday said it was not a "political party election but to ensure BEST workers get their rightful houses and their children have access to employment opportunities.

"Shramik Utkarsh Sabha, led by Lad, Darekar, fisheries minister Nitesh Rane and few other politicians will jointly fight the elections on August 18 against the alliance panel of those representing Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS.Speaking about the BEST, Lad alleged that in the past, there was an attempt to sell BEST, and today it is running at a loss of Rs 3,000 crore. We have proposed alternatives – including leasing depots instead of selling them – along with other measures, he said at a press conference.

He further said, “Our firm stance is that workers will not be left to ruin. We resolved the issue of more than 700 casual BEST workers, worked to provide rooms for workers in BEST depots, secured the Covid allowance, and ensured that Rs 52 crore from it was directly deposited into employees’ accounts.”