Delhi plans to revamp public transport

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, JAN.6.

In a move that could have far-reaching implications, the Delhi Government is contemplating privatisation of the Delhi Transport Corporation and establishment of a Transport Regulatory Authority to supervise the public transportation scenario in the Capital and augment the fleet of buses by involving the private sector in a big way.

A presentation to this effect was made to the Delhi Cabinet here today by the DTC Chairman, Mr. Rakesh Mehta. According to the proposals contained in the Cabinet note, it has been decided to divide the surface transport fleet into five zones. While four zones would be offered to the private sector, one zone would be totally dedicated to the buses run by the DTC.

In another significant decision, it is understood, that the Cabinet also decided that in view of the impending privatisation drive, the DTC will no longer purchase any new bus. The required 7,000-odd new buses would be inducted through the private sector. But unlike in the past, no individual operators would be allowed to ply buses and routes would be only offered to the corporate sector and the cooperative societies willing to operate buses in bulk.

It has also been decided that the DTC property in the four zones being offered to the private sector would be leased or rented to the private parties for maintenance and running its affairs. However, sources said that retrenchment was completely ruled out as provision was being made to accommodate the DTC employees in the four zones being offered in the private sector.

According to the presentation, the idea was to provide a strong regulation to ensure proper quality of service. At the same time, it was felt that there was also a strong need to resolve the conflict between the DTC, private operators and Blueline operations to avoid competition. It was stressed that there should be a transparent way of reimbursing concession costs to the private bus operators.

Keeping in view the strategy to commercially use the assets of the DTC to generate additional revenue, it has been proposed to set up separate companies for this sector. A strong view was also expressed that the regulator should not be the operator to ensure there is no conflict of interest and thus the decision to have an independent Transport Regulatory Authority.

The presentation before the State Cabinet and subsequent decision follows a report on restructuring of DTC submitted by the Tata Energy Research Institute recently.

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