Police ask DTC to review move to withdraw ‘special hire’ buses
NEW DELHI: A day after the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) asked the police to immediately return all its buses taken on ‘special hire’ to maintain law and order in the city, the Delhi Police wrote to DTC asking it to review its decision as it may lead to obstruction in maintaining law and order.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also criticised the decision by the Delhi government.
In the letter, special commissioner of police Robin Hibu said if any untoward incident happens in Delhi then DTC may be held accountable.
A senior DTC officer confirmed that the corporation has received the letter after which DTC managing director met Hibu to resolve the issue. The DTC MD also raised the pending dues on the part of the Delhi Police amounting to about Rs 10 crore with Hibu, officials said.
Till Thursday, of the total 576 buses, over 350 buses provided to police and para military personnel were returned to DTC.
Late Wednesday evening, the Delhi government issued a directive to DTC to seek prior approval before giving any of its buses on ‘special hire’ by the Delhi Police or any other organisation. The order came in the wake of 40 DTC and cluster buses getting damaged during the tractor rally by protesting farmers on Republic Day when the police used buses as barricades at several locations, including ITO and Akshardham.
“As per direction of the authorities, 360 of total 576 buses provided to police and para military under special hire have been withdrawn to different depots. However, 216 buses are still with the security personnel in view of law and order situation,” said a senior DTC official.
Normally, about 100 buses are provided by DTC to the police and para military forces. However, the number of buses went up to 576 after farmers started protest at Delhi borders, officials said.
Attacking the AAP government, the BJP said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is pushing the city into a “state of anarchy” for political gains, especially in Punjab and Delhi.
The AAP which is the main Opposition party in Punjab has extended support to the farmer agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws.
Several BJP leaders such as party’s national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, MPS Meenakshi lekhi, Parvesh Verma, Ramesh Bidhuri, Manoj Tiwari tweeted on Thursday with hashtag #Kejriwalwantsanarchy, criticising the decision to withdraw DTC buses.
“India has a history of brave patriots from Prithvi Raj Chauhan to APJ Kalam & also has a history of Jaichand to Mir Jaffar.
Recent action by Arvind Kejriwal to deny DTC bus services to police is a case in point which proves his anarchist credentials in support of Delhi seizure,” tweeted Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP MP from New Delhi.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta tweeted, “Delhi Police has always been a victim of cheap politics of Anarchist CM @arvindkejriwal. For their political interests, @aamaadmiparty has blamed Delhi Police for every act of violence in the city be it Jamia, JNU, Delhi Riots or Farmers protest violence. #Kejriwalwantsanarchy.”
Gupta said Kejriwal was compromising with the safety and security of the people living in Delhi.
Demanding immediate withdrawal of the order, BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who is also the leader of the opposition in Delhi assembly, said, “The buses are needed by security forces. This is not the time to do politics. For political gains in Punjab, he shouldn’t push the city into a state of anarchy. The order should be immediately withdrawn.”
Bidhuri added, “It is regrettable that Kejriwal neither went to ask the health condition of 300 police personnel injured during the Republic Day violence nor uttered a word of sympathy for them.”
Despite calls and text messages, the AAP did not comment on the allegations by the BJP.