The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) why no one was bidding for its tender to procure low-floor buses for the Capital saying the fault may be at its end.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said, “Why is that no one, even global players, are not bidding for Delhi Transport Corporation tender for low-floor buses? The fault may be at your end”.
The Bench said it will “not permit anything to be done which would keep a large population out of or away from public transportation”.
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No affordable bids
Two petitions has challenged separate tenders issued last year and in March this year to procure standard-floor buses (SFBs) on the grounds that they were not disabled-friendly.
The DTC said in the past it has not received bids which were affordable when it floated tenders for procuring low-floor buses as even Indian companies Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland quoted unreasonable figures.
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Ashok Leyland said that DTC had not floated any tender for procurement of low-floor buses since 2014 and has not even cleared the maintenance costs of the ones supplied prior to that.
Ashok Leyland said while procuring the buses, the DTC had said they were meant to carry 50-55 passengers, but in reality twice that number were travelling, leading to increased wear and tear and higher maintenance costs.
Next hearing
Both Ashok Leyland and Tata had earlier indicated their stand on affidavit to which the DTC has not yet responded. The Bench noted this on Monday and directed the transport operator to file its reply before May 30, the next date of hearing.
“Delhi cannot be subjected to such idiosyncrasies of authorities which do not want to move forward,” the Bench added.
The court was hearing petition moved by Nipun Malhotra, who suffers from a locomotor disability, contending that by issuing the tender to procure 1,000 SFBs, DTC and the Delhi government have “completely failed to take into account the issues which would be faced by the disabled and elderly population, when it comes to basic access to public transport“.