According to the Delhi government’s Economic Survey of 2015-16, DTC had incurred losses to the tune of Rs 1250.15 crore, which multiplied to Rs 3034.09 crore in 2021-22, stating that the losses of DTC had doubled during the eight-year reign of the Arvind Kejriwal government, said Anil Kumar.
New Delhi: Delhi Congress on Wednesday said that instead of admitting the disturbed state of the once robust DTC fleet, Arvind Kejriwal government was trying to project a false image of the public transport system by claiming that DTC earned a profit of Rs 2.32 crore, which was a blatant lie. The party said that when free ride for women was allowed as an election stunt before the last Delhi Assembly elections, the government used it as an opportunity to foster corruption.
Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar said that with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal having nothing to show for progress and development after being in power for eight years, he was claiming that DTC has earned profit as a face-saving lie. He said that the Arvind Kejriwal government destroyed the DTC in the manner the BJP had ruined the Municipal Corporations of Delhi during its 15-year misrule, as they have brought overall ruin to Delhi with their misrule and incompetence.
Kumar said that according to the Delhi government’s Economic Survey of 2015-16, DTC had incurred losses to the tune of Rs 1250.15 crore, which multiplied to Rs 3034.09 crore in 2021-22, stating that the losses of DTC had doubled during the eight-year reign of the Arvind Kejriwal government.
“How could such a loss-making department make a dramatic turnaround, and earn profit? He said that there was a huge scam in the free ride scheme for women, and coupled with the Rs 4288 crore purchase and maintenance contract corruption by the Arvind Kejriwal government, DTC has been caught in a deep debt-trap, and it is being kept alive only with the support of government grants,” he said
The Delhi Congress president said that the stark reality of the DTC was that it has run up cumulative losses to the tune of Rs 39,000 crore, and after 2015, the DTC has not added a single new bus to its fleet, with the DTC fleet shrinking to skeletal level.
“The existing DTC fleet has suffered heavy wear and tear as these low floor AC and non-AC buses were acquired by the previous Congress government before the Commonwealth Games, and these buses have outlived their lifespan, and need urgent replacement, but the Arvind Kejriwal government has shown no urgency in adding buses to the DTC fleet to reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads, one of the main reasons for severe air pollution in the Capital,” added Kumar.
