NEW DELHI: Delhi Transport Corporation‘s liabilities rose from Rs 28,263 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 65,274 crore in 2021-22 as it incurred operational losses of over Rs 14,000 crore during this period, according to a CAG report tabled in the assembly on Monday. Delhi CM Rekha Gupta tabled the report on the functioning of DTC for the year ending March 31, 2022, in the budget session, reports Abhinav Rajput.
The report also highlighted lapses, such as the fact that though a CCTV system was installed and commissioned in 3,697 buses in March 2021, it was not fully operational as of May 2023. “A payment of Rs 52.45 crore was released to the contractor, but pending the user acceptance test of the system, it was not declared to go live,” it said.
‘No. of overage low-floor buses up from 0.13% in 2015 to 45% in 2023′
The CAG report said the public transporter had not prepared any business or perspective plan, nor signed any MoU with the state govt to set physical and financial targets for containing its working losses. It was also found that it had not set a benchmark to assess its performance against other state transport undertakings.
Between 2015 and 2023, DTC’s bus fleet reduced from 4,344 to 3,937 buses. It could procure only 300 electric buses during 2021-22 and 2022-23 despite the availability of funds, claimed the report. This was the third CAG report to be tabled in the assembly, the earlier ones being on liquor policy and health.
On the depleting fleet of buses, the report said the number of overage low-floor buses in DTC during 2015-22 increased from 0.13% (five buses) to 17.4% (656 buses), which further increased to 44.9% (1,770 buses) by March 31, 2023, of its total fleet. The proportion of overage buses will continue to rise if DTC does not make sincere efforts to procure or add new buses, it added.
DTC and the Clusters Schemecombined currently have over 7,000 buses, out of which 2,000 Cluster and 3,000 DTC buses will be phased out this year. This could create a crisis if new buses are not purchased on time. The report also said that the project for automatic fare collection system phase-I was commissioned in Dec 2017, but due to the inability of the system integrator, it has not been functional since May 2020.
The report was debated in the assembly on Monday. Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa claimed that the report exposed large-scale corruption by the previous AAP govt. BJP MLA Harish Khurana alleged that DTC’s operating cost skyrocketed to Rs 544 per km compared to Rs 54 per km for Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System cluster buses. “Govt rented out spaces to private cluster bus operators, but Rs 225 crore in rent remains unpaid. No action was taken to recover this amount,” Khurana added.
Following the debate, the chief minister proposed formation of a public accounts committee and a business advisory committee, each comprising nine members. During the discussion, leader of the opposition Atishi requested that the debate be postponed till Wednesday, citing insufficient time to study the report.
Later, AAP issued a statement claiming that the CAG report confirmed there was absolutely no scam or corruption in the running of DTC. “In 2021, BJP falsely alleged a scam in the procurement of 1,000 new low-floor buses. LG then ordered a CBI investigation, forcing officers to put the proposal on hold. For years, BJP held Delhi’s public transport system to ransom, depriving people of better services. They must apologise to the people of Delhi for this deliberate sabotage,” said the party.
“CAG report also validates that the AAP govt ensured affordable public transport by preventing fare hikes for the past 10 years and providing free travel for women. Not a single BJP state across the country has managed to do this. Now, the BJP govt in Delhi is planning to reverse both these measures, proving yet again that it is anti-people and anti-progress,” said the party.
