New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday alleged there was a 25% decline in the number of buses run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) because of which bus ridership had fallen by over 20% during the last four-and-a-half years of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital.
Addressing a press conference, leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta said that as many as 150 routes running about 1,200 trips had been discontinued during the last six months. He asked the government to restore the routes immediately, failing which the BJP would embark upon an agitation.
Gupta claimed he made the claims based on latest information provided by the Delhi government under the Right to Information Act.
Officials in DTC refuted the claims, saying the buses were rather redeployed for greater operational efficiency in areas of high demand.
“It is a known fact that Delhi, just like all other states in India, has an ageing fleet of buses. But, now new buses are being added in a massive scale to fill the gap,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
“When AAP came to power in 2015, at least 5,000 DTC buses were on the road. But, today there are only 3,781 buses as per RTI reply from the corporation. In comparison to the direction of Delhi High Court and AAP’s own manifesto, the number of DTC buses on road is hardly one-third of what it should have been,” Gupta said.
{{/usCountry}}“When AAP came to power in 2015, at least 5,000 DTC buses were on the road. But, today there are only 3,781 buses as per RTI reply from the corporation. In comparison to the direction of Delhi High Court and AAP’s own manifesto, the number of DTC buses on road is hardly one-third of what it should have been,” Gupta said.
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