[sustran] Monorail blocks Ranchi city bus - Talks to revive fleet cancelled in favour of elite project

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140917/jsp/frontpage/story_18843865.jsp#.VBkNwfmSyAU


Monorail blocks city bus*- Talks to revive fleet cancelled in favour of
elite project*A.S.R.P. MUKESHPravat Tripathy at the CBI office on Tuesday.
Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

*Ranchi, Sept. 16: *Call it a classic case of building castles in the air.

While the city bus service — the once-touted backbone of public transport
system in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad — remains grounded for weeks owing
to unending administrative and operational hurdles, the state government is
busy poring over an ambitious monorail project.

A promising meeting to thrash out a way to revive the comatose transport
lifeline, which was to be chaired by chief secretary Sudhir Prasad this
afternoon, was conveniently cancelled in favour of a discussion of elevated
rail path feasibility in capital Ranchi.

Sources said Prasad was expected to convene the city bus meeting with
officials of Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC), urban
development department and Ranchi Municipal Corporation sharp at 3pm.
Minutes before the scheduled time, the talks were cancelled.

“It reflects the government’s skewed agenda. Monorail is the new buzz in
power corridors these days because it will involve big money. We simply
love to invest in futile projects,” a senior government official said,
requesting anonymity.

JTDC managing director Sunil Kumar conceded they had been informed about
the cancellation of the meeting that would be “rescheduled soon”.

Sponsored under the Centre’s flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the city bus service in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and
Dhanbad has had a bumpy ride since its inception in 2010, courtesy
ambiguous plans on how to run and sustain the fleet.

“It has been a historic blunder. Everybody was excited when the buses were
procured for crores of rupees, but no one came forward when the question of
operating them arose. Ideally, special purpose vehicles incorporated by
respective urban local bodies should run city buses. But, the government
decided on JTDC as a temporary guardian. Zero maintenance and stopgap
arrangements for years have now literally pushed the public transport hope
into an abyss of hopelessness,” said another official.

The JTDC management admitted having abandoned the rickety fleet.

“In Dhanbad, the agency that offered manpower has given to us in writing
that it cannot run the buses. In Jamshedpur and Ranchi, the buses are lying
idle for want of money for PF benefits and fuel. Even if we adopt the city
bus again, in violation of the JTDC board’s ruling, fresh tender processes
will be involved in all the three mission cities. The respective civic
bodies can do that too instead of us,” said Sunil Kumar.

Chief executive officer of Ranchi Municipal Corporation Manoj Kumar
abstained from any commitment. “The state government has to take a decision
(on whether RMC should take over a rickety fleet),” he replied curtly.

Chief secretary Prasad didn’t entertain calls from The Telegraph all
through Tuesday. He, however, sent a text message to this correspondent
that read, “busy… get back later”.

At the high-level monorail meeting, private consultant IDFC — a leading
infrastructure finance company in India — was asked to draw up a
comprehensive mobility plan before the signing of a memorandum of
understanding.