Najeeb Jung’s successor, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, has returned the file on the Delhi government’s proposal to slash DTC bus fares by 75 per cent.
The decision to cut down the fare to Rs 5 for non-AC buses and Rs 10 for AC buses had been announced by Delhi Transport Minister Satyendra Jain in December and the file was sent to the LG for approval earlier last week. It was originally mooted by Baijal’s predecessor, Najeeb Jung.
It is believed that Baijal returned the proposal, intended “to encourage more people to switch to public transport”, and has asked the Delhi government to “reconsider” the decision.
Times of India, in its report, cited sources saying that the step, announced also to curb pollution, had earlier been vetoed by the city government’s finance department.
“The minister (Jain), however, was very keen and sent it to the LG despite objections from the finance department,” a senior official was quoted by Times of India as saying.
The proposal was estimated to cost DTC over Rs 50 crore and was to be initially implemented for the month of January. DTC has around 4,000 buses in its fleet and runs over 3,700 buses daily.
Also, a committee had been formed to examine if the fare of the 8,000 RTVs running in the city could be subsidised by the government because the operators were afraid of a slump in business if the fares were slashed.
