The Delhi Congress on Saturday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government’s plan to get 1,000 electric buses would lead to the exchequer being overcharged by ₹750 crore.
Citing the report of the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) from May, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said the affidavit submitted by the government to the apex court had incorrectly stated that ₹40 crore would be given for the project by the Centre.
‘Scam’ of ₹750 crore
The EPCA’s report said that Delhi had applied for funding under the Centre’s FAME scheme, but did not complete the process, leading other cities to get the total of ₹440 crore funding for electric buses.
Referring to the EPCA report, Mr. Maken said the capital costs of electric buses ranged from ₹75 lakh to ₹1.75 crore, for the 12-metre buses that Delhi was interested in, and that the Delhi government had informed the court that each bus would cost ₹2.5 crore.
This, Mr. Maken said, was an “inflated” price that would lead to a “scam” of ₹750 crore. On July 11, the Delhi Cabinet had approved the appointment of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), which runs the CNG cluster bus service, as the consultant to plan the electric bus project.
Mr. Maken said that on one hand the government had appointed DIMTS as consultant for the electric buses project, but on the other hand, the Delhi Jal Board had ended the consultancy of DIMTS for its water tanker project, citing a notional loss caused.