India, Sept. 3 -- The BEST has proposed an upward revision in the salaries of its own employees as well as those of wet-lease operators, placing an additional burden of Rs.1,111 crore on the undertaking, year on year. This includes Rs.475 crore a year for 9,000-odd wet-lease staff, of which 7,000 are bus drivers.

The proposal follows a recent agitation by the BEST Sanyukt Kamgar Kruti Samiti, the joint action committee of employee unions. The committee, in June, had demanded implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission, settlement of pending wage issues and better conditions for contractual and wet-lease workers.

Pay parity between the undertaking's own staff and that of wet lease operators was a prominent demand, with unions demanding ...