BEST bus strike enters third day in Mumbai as MESMA notices issued

Mumbai’s BEST bus strike entered a third day on Sunday, June 21, 2026, after workers walked out on June 19 and bus services remained largely paralysed across the city.

Authorities responded with notices under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, or MESMA, while also bringing in state transport buses to help reduce the pressure on commuters.

Service disruption

Reporting through Saturday said the shutdown had already left Mumbai facing near-total disruption on many BEST routes, with only a small number of buses on the road and very low attendance among operational staff.

The strike has affected a system that many office-goers, students and other daily commuters rely on for routine travel across the city. Passengers have been forced to look for alternative transport while regular BEST services remained largely shut.

How the dispute escalated

The walkout followed earlier union warnings that employees would strike from June 19 over long-running demands, including better pay, more BEST-owned buses, the merger of BEST and BMC budgets, and regularisation of contractual staff.

Talks between the government, BEST officials and union representatives reportedly ended in deadlock on Friday, June 19, before the stoppage deepened into a broader transport problem.

By Saturday, June 20, reporting said the strike had entered its second day and that commuters were still struggling to find alternatives as the shutdown continued.

Later that day, another report said MESMA notices had been issued to workers, marking a sharper official response to the ongoing strike.

State intervention

By Sunday, June 21, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation had begun supplying buses to support transport in Mumbai while the BEST system remained disrupted.

One report said MSRTC provided 100 buses, with 60 of them used for NEET exam travel. A separate Marathi report said 160 state transport buses were made available for city services.

The different figures suggest deployments were still changing through the day, but both reports point to an expanded emergency effort to keep the city moving.

What remains unresolved

The central question now is whether the MESMA notices will push workers back to their posts or lead to fresh talks.

It is also unclear how quickly service can be restored on individual corridors, or whether the strike will spread further into other BEST operations.

For now, the labor dispute remains unresolved, and commuters continue to absorb the cost of a strike that has moved from a one-day stoppage into a sustained citywide disruption.