Unable to buy buses, govt cuts budget

THE DELHI government had last year dropped its plans to buy 1,000 low-floor DTC buses, which is why no capital outlay for new buses has been earmarked in this year’s budget, government sources have told The Indian Express.

“The government had not been able to buy buses for the last two years, which is why efforts were curtailed. They are concentrating on hiring new buses under the cluster scheme,” sources in the government said.

The DTC has not floated a tender in more than a year now and has no plans to do so either, sources said. “The AAP government does not seem interested in making efforts to procure buses after three tendering processes since 2014 failed to lure manufacturers,” they said.

The 1,000 buses to be introduced under the premium bus scheme fell through last year after allegations of corruption. The premium service was shelved in June, 2016 after the Lieutenant Governor withheld his approval to the scheme on the grounds that it “favoured a particular company”.

That left the government with 1,000 cluster buses, which had already been tendered in 2011 and were only waiting to be brought on road as soon as space was made for them in existing depots.

Of the 1,000 buses proposed in last year’s budget, only 200 cluster buses were hired. That leaves roughly 800 buses, of which the government has proposed to hire 736 in this year’s budget. No new purchase explains the reduction in capital expenditure on buses and bus depots from Rs 325 crore, about 8 per cent of last years’ budget, to Rs 100 crore, or 2 per cent of this year’s budget.

Only 2 per cent of this year’s budget was allotted to buses