India, Jan. 3 -- Dipak Juwatkar wasn't your run-of-the-mill beggar, despite the steel container placed in front of him as he sat on the road in the crowded Dadar Phule Market on Tuesday. The placard next to him was addressed to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and it spoke of "not a single paisa" having been paid to those who retired from BEST a year ago.

This was 59-year-old Juwatkar's sixth public demonstration. Since the first one, on November 5 last year, right outside the BEST headquarters in Colaba, the former BEST conductor, who went on to work as a clerk in the undertaking, has demonstrated at various locations, including Flora Fountain and the Wadala Bus Depot.

No one from the BEST administration stepped out to have a word wit...