The Hindu : New Delhi News : Absence of DTC time-table leads to losses, corruption

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Absence of DTC time-table leads to losses, corruption

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, MAY 4 .The absence of a uniform time-table for DTC and private buses in most places and non-adherence to it in others has led to a situation where the running of buses in Delhi has become almost a loss-making proposition for most operators. The situation turns very grim on week-ends and public holidays when most of the buses can be seen running with only a few passengers on board and struggling to even recover their operational costs.

Though the proposal to have a uniform time-table was floated by the former Delhi Transport Minister and now Congress candidate from New Delhi constituency, Ajay Maken, it never saw the light of day. As a result the DTC and private buses can now be seen competing with each other as also among themselves all around the city.

And the fear of loss often leads to several malpractices in the system. "Very often bribes are doled out to our drivers to driver their vehicles behind the private ones. While some take the bait, others stick to their time-schedule despite having to face threats and taunts from the private operators,'' said a DTC official.

Noting that the Vigilance Wing keeps a check on the drivers, the official said all attempts were made to keep the operations fair and above board as anything to the contrary further affects the financial health of the Corporation. The issue has now gained even more currency as the DTC has stopped induction of new permanent drivers and taken to appointing private drivers to cut down on its operation costs and liabilities as its operational loss still stands at around Rs 10 crores per month.

The Corporation, which has 6,700 drivers of its own, has engaged about 1,000 more through major recruitment contractors for meeting its day-to-day requirements as for each of its 3,655 buses it needs an average of 2.5 drivers. This, however, has led to a peculiar situation where it is required to keep watch on the contract drivers, whose stakes in the Corporation's good financial health are less.

However, a senior official said these contract drivers were normally not the ones who take bribes for running the buses behind schedule. Stating that the revenues have improved after the induction of the private drivers, he said: "More often than not it is the permanent drivers who take around Rs 100 to run their DTC buses behind the private ones.'' And the Vigilance Department has also proceeded against a couple of such drivers.

The official said it was the old drivers who having secured jobs indulged in negative practices. "Normally the culprits are suspended soon after they are caught. At other times we also enforce major penal action against them. The unprecedented 150-odd preventive checks in the past year have had a dramatic impact on the their performance.''

So much so, that today a private bus operator (DL-1P-A-0862) plying on Route No. 740 between Anand Vihar ISBT and Uttam Nagar was seen pleading with the driver of a DTC bus (DL-1P-B-1047) plying right behind him to "keep some distance''. "You have at least earned a few hundred rupees but my collection has not even crossed Rs 20,'' he told the DTC bus driver while showing him the three or four passengers who were travelling in his bus near Krishi Bhawan.

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