MHA asks CBI to probe Delhi govt’s purchase of 1K buses

Matter of ‘corruption’ in AMC of DTC bus procurement was raised by BJP

The ministry of home affairs (MHA), on Thursday, recommended a preliminary enquiry by the CBI into the procurement of 1,000 lowfloor buses by the Delhi government. The matter was a bone of contention between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party, with the latter levelling corruption allegations in the procurement.

Responding to the development, the Delhi government refuted the “allegations” of corruption in the bus procurement process and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government of “harassing” it by using the CBI.

The matter of “corruption” in the annual maintenance contract (AMC) of the bus procurement by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) was raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi Assembly in March this year.

A three-member committee formed by lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal in June had found procedural “flaws” in the annual maintenance contract and recommended scrapping it.

The L-G had referred the matter to the MHA in July for its consideration, the officials said.

The Delhi government was informed about the CBI probe in a letter written to chief secretary Vijay Dev by ministry of home affairs additional secretary (Union Territory) Govind Mohan on August 16.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Vijender Gupta, who had raised the matter in the Assembly, alleged there was a “scam” of thousands of crores of rupees in the bus procurement.

“The CBI enquiry has begun in the Delhi Transport Corporation bus procurement scam. The Delhi transport minister should be immediately removed and arrested,” Mr Gupta said in a video message.

There is “absolutely no truth” to these allegations, said a Delhi government statement, adding that a committee was already set up to investigate the matter thoroughly, which gave a “clean chit” to the government.

The Delhi Transport Corporation had, last year, floated two separate tenders for procurement of 1,000 low-floor buses and their AMC. The procurement contract was for `850 crore, while the AMC for 12 years was worth `3,412 crore.

The bus procurement contract was awarded to JBM Auto and Tata Motors on a 70:30 ratio. The Delhi government had put the bus procurement process on hold in June, deciding to wait for the outcome of the threemember committee formed by the L-G to look into the matter.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Adesh Gupta welcomed the Central government’s decision to order a CBI inquiry and had expressed hope that soon culprits will be behind the bars.