NEW DELHI: The Delhi Transport Corporation heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday as its buses plied normally in Uttar Pradesh without any untoward incident after the State Government decided to defer till September 2 its decision to ban the entry of these buses in the wake of the inability of the two States to sign an accord on running of buses in each-other's territory.

Since the contract between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on the mileage of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) buses is supposed to be renewed every year but has not been signed for the past five years, the Uttar Pradesh Government had threatened to stop the entry of DTC buses into the State from Tuesday (August 16).

However, late on Monday evening, the U.P. Government decided to extend the deadline to September 2. The U.P. Transport Minister, Naresh Agarwal, announced the deferment following a high-level meeting.

Claiming that the decision was taken after DTC officials faxed him a letter urging withdrawal of the ban and promised to settle the issue through negotiations, Mr Agarwal had stated that it is now time for Delhi to come up with concrete proposals in the matter.

Accusing the Delhi Transport Minister, Haroon Yusuf, of "mishandling'' the issue, he said while U.P. was willing to accord another opportunity to Delhi, its stance should not be construed to be a weakness.

Mr Agarwal, who had held a meeting with Mr Yusuf in August 2004 to sort out the issues, had given time till Monday night for resolving the issue. He had asked Delhi to sign a pact for paying of tax on DTC buses running in U.P. However, not agreeing with the terms of the agreement and the manner in which the tax had been calculated, Delhi had not signed along the dotted line.

Mr Yusuf contended that a "mutually agreeable solution'' was being worked out and declared that even if Delhi's buses were impounded there would be no reciprocal action. Having already written to senior Delhi transport officials to convene a high-level meeting with officials in Lucknow on September 2, he hoped that the matter would be resolved amicably.

The bone of contention between the two States has been the issue of mileage to be allowed to UPSRTC and DTC buses. As per the existing agreement, while DTC buses are allowed 90,000 km per day, UPSRTC buses are allowed 30,000 km per day in Delhi. And DTC has been paying Rs 2,400 per bus to U.P. in tax.

Uttar Pradesh is not happy with the arrangement. It wants level terms on mileage and accused DTC of running 1.25 lakh km per day in violation of the existing pact. Delhi on the other hand wants the agreement to be based on the number of trips and not kilometres. Delhi contention is that the DTC buses traverse long distances in U.P. while buses from U.P. only have to travel a few hundred metres in Delhi to reach Anand Vihar inter-state bus terminal.

The worst-affected by the impasse would be daily passengers and school children in Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida who travel to and fro Delhi by DTC buses. While many had started making preparations for scenario that would have emerged should U.P. stuck to its August 16 deadline, they are still wary of events following the September 2 deadline.

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