[sustran] re: fwd: Delhi bans old buses

[SUSTRAN Network Secretariat]

The Times of India
Sunday 2 April
Delhi


Commuters will suffer for a week, admits Dikshit 
By A Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Delhiites are likely to face a tough time from Monday with the
city government still trying to figure out what to do to make good the
shortfall of nearly 4,000 buses that have been off the roads from Saturday
following the Supreme Court order.

The Apex Court on Friday had refused to extend the deadline for phasing out
buses which were more than eight years old and pre-1990 TSRs and taxis.

According to the court orders, the government on Saturday withdrew 1,750
DTC buses. Though chief minister Sheila Dikshit claimed the government was
fully geared to meet the crisis situation, the DTC could provide only 375
buses which were withdrawn from inter-state routes.

Acting DTC CMD Ashok Pradhan said another 400 buses plying on inter-state
routes will be pressed into service from Sunday. The inter-state buses will
be replaced by those DTC buses which are more than eight years old.

Despite this, there will be a shortfall of around 1,000 buses.

For this, Dikshit added, the transport department is inviting applications
from private operators who were willing to provide new buses under the KM
Scheme. The CM admitted this exercise will take about a week's time. Till
then, the deficit will continue.

What is likely to precipitate the situation further is that as per the
court directions, nearly 2,100 contract carriages, normally used by schools
and office-goers, have also been withdrawn.

The government has, so far, found no substitute for them. Dikshit said the
government expected the contract carriages, which are an integral part of
the Capital's transport system, to follow the DTC formula. ``The government
is not responsible for contract carriages. They have to make their own
arrangement,'' a senior transport official said.

While referring to replacing the DTC's fleet with CNG buses, Dikshit said
the government was in a ``Catch 22'' situation. ``We have not been able to
buy the CNG buses, despite adequate funds, as the suppliers are not able to
meet the demand,'' she added.

Dikshit also claimed that adequate fuel was not available for 21 CNG buses
plying under the DTC. The Union petroleum ministry, she said, had assured
that 82 CNG outlets will be available by April 1, but they have provided
only 15. ``Even at these outlets, it takes around 40 minutes to fill one
CNG bus,'' Dikshit said.

Neither the chief minister nor any of the senior transport officials had
any clue till late Saturday evening as to how many vehicles, flouting the
court directions, had been impounded.

The Supreme Court had also directed that pre-1990 TSRs and taxis be
withdrawn. Nearly 17,200 TSRs and 1,000 taxis fall in this category.
Transport department officials claimed most of these vehicles were
voluntarily taken off the road.

The court's order was to be implemented by the transport department with
assistance from the traffic police.

© Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2000.  
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Distributed for the purpose of education and research.

A. Rahman Paul BARTER
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia
and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network)
P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia.
E-mail: sustran at po.jaring.my
URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran

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