How much will you pay for 'BEST' junk?

In a reversal of it’s selling for scrap plan, BEST to auction 50 AC buses

From a fleet of 260, only 125-130 AC buses operate in a day

Instead of selling its clunky albatrosses as scrap — as was the plan — the BEST Undertaking has decided to auction 50 air-conditioned JCBL buses from a fleet of 260, and recover the bare minimum of the hefty fund it pumped into procuring them.

BEST had spent R55-65 lakh on procuring each of these 50 buses, manufactured in 2008-10. They are past their shelf life of seven years and have also rusted owing to the city’s salty, humid air. Besides, each bus generates a revenue of just R100 when the expenditure is R125. BEST planned to initially dismantle these buses and sell them as scrap. But doing so would have fetched only R1-3 lakh per bus.

Yesterday, the undertaking changed its tack and decided to auction them, instead. “These buses are made of stainless steel and have rusted internally beyond repairs. They wouldn’t have made much money as scrap. That’s why are looking at auctioning them,” said a BEST official. But, BEST’s last attempt to sell these AC buses in January had elicited embarrassing responses of R1-2 lakh per bus.

Sanjay Bhagwat, additional general manager, BEST, said the base price for the auction hasn’t been decided yet. Officials say the price will depend on the value of depreciation. The collective value of depreciation of the buses stands at R10 crore.

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