Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. (Photo by Jasbir Malhi)
Alleging a scam in the kilometre scheme of Haryana government, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that he would cancel the agreement made by the current Khattar government to hire 720 private buses if Congress was voted to power in 2019 Assembly polls. However, the state government has termed the allegations of Hooda as an attempt to misguide the people.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Thursday, Hooda alleged: “The Punjab government had hired buses from private players at the rate of Rs 20 or Rs 22 per kilomtre while the Haryana government has offered rates in the range of Rs 32 to Rs 42 per km” apart from some other charges. “It means that the cost would be significantly higher.” The former Chief Minister said that Congress has submitted a memorandum to the Governor on Wednesday to explain the entire issue and seeking his intervention.
According to the memorandum, “The Haryana government had invited tenders in January 2016 and Rs 16.76 (per km) was the lowest bid (to provide buses) which was (then) rejected by the government because they wanted to give it at a higher rate to their favourites and this is the reason why the state government is now offering rates of Rs 32 to 42 per km”.
“This points to a massive scam in Haryana Roadways,” he alleged. “It is important to mention that Roadways employees are not seeking better pay or emoluments but have gone on strike against the government’s policy decision to hire 720 buses from the private sector, which is the beginning of the government’s decision to privatise the department,” mentioned the memorandum signed by Hooda and other Congress legislators.
However, Media Adviser to the CM, Rajiv Jain, said: “Hooda was trying blame the current regime for the weakness of Congress government.” He added: “The ten year rule of Congress had played an important role in derailing the transport system in the state. Now, these (Congressmen) are trying to misguide the people. In last five-year term of Congress, only 472 buses were purchased for the Haryana Roadways while the current BJP government has already brought 600 buses and the process to bring 650 more buses is still on,” said Jain. The government has also offered a probe into the process of hiring the buses.