‘Killer’ Blueline fleet to be rehabilitated

The Delhi government has finally agreed to the demand to rehabilitate a large number of families that earned their livelihood through Blueline buses.

The Delhi government has finally agreed to the demand to rehabilitate a large number of families that earned their livelihood through Blueline buses.

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Sources said the transport department has come up with three options to give yet another chance to the Blueline operators and allied staff to return to business.

The three options will first be discussed in a meeting with chief minister Sheila Dikshit and will be later presented before the Blueline operators.

The first option is to take over those Blueline buses, which still have a life of four years, either on lease or run them under the kilometre scheme of the Delhi Transport Corporation.

The second option is to give Blueline operators a chance to come together and run buses under the cluster scheme.

The transport department has also proposed to give these operators permits to run mini buses.

The Delhi government had phased out 2,730 Blueline buses in various stages since December 2010. The remaining 53 Blueline buses, which are being run on various routes in outer Delhi, will be phased out by June 28 this year.

The Blueline operators, however, have been demanding rehabilitation of thousands of families of operators, drivers, conductors, helpers, mechanics and those who did odd jobs, ever since the phase out has started.

"We have been running buses in Delhi for almost 40 years and know nothing except this. We have lost jobs. Our request to the government is to rehabilitate us and make use of our experience of running buses," said Shyam Lal Gola, general secretary, Federation of Delhi Bus Operators.

"We had given a letter detailing our issues to the chief minister last week and we are hoping that the CM would listen to us this time,” he added.