State-run buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation reduced in fleet-size and registered lesser earnings while Delhi Metro trains saw a slight increase yet falling short of its target for the year as per the Delhi government’s Outcome Budget released on Friday.
While the number of cluster buses being operated by the government remained static, these registered more ridership and earnings than targeted even as significant initiatives such as the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera and the deployment of marshals aboard all public buses remained static and registered slow progress, respectively.
Big-ticket initiatives
Big-ticket initiatives like procurement of vehicles for the creation of a fleet of electric buses and the installation of WiFi services across the Capital were pushed forward by a year to March 2020 and September 2020 respectively.
Meanwhile, the provision of water lines at unauthorised colonies could not be achieved as per the set target. The DJB laid water pipelines in 144 unauthorised colonies during the financial year 2018-19, falling 147 short of the target of 291.
The number of operational DTC buses was 3,974 in 2017-18 and the target was to raise it to 4,176 in 2018-19, however, it reduced to 3,897.
The average daily ridership improved slightly being registered at 33 lakh as against a target of 32.93 lakh in 2018-19.
Earnings per km were targeted at ₹31.10 in 2018-19 but stood at ₹30.32. In terms of earnings per bus per day, the amount registered stood at ₹5,898 as against the target of ₹5,931 in 2018-19.
Cluster buses, however, registered an average ridership of 12.24 lakh compared to the targeted 12 lakh and per km earnings of ₹30.30 in comparison to the target of ₹20.55
Safety of passengers
The number of bus marshals deployed for the safety of passengers was 2,153 in DTC buses in 2017-18.
In 2018-19, the number was to be raised to 4,280 but only 3,041 were available in the buses.
There was no progress in installing CCTV cameras in buses as successive bids for it in December 2018 and January 2019 failed and these remained available only on 200 buses.
Education sector
In the education sector, the government has managed to fill 95% of its target when it comes to providing quality early childhood education by introducing nursery classes with a ratio of 30 students to one teacher.
As many as 448 schools under the Directorate of Education have managed to enrol a total of 19,108 students.
Under its scheme to provide teachers with tablet computers to monitor student-wise learning achievement, the government has managed to provide 67% of its teachers with tablets.
The Outcome Budget data also shows that in 2018-19, 71.58% of students passed in their Class X exams while 94.24% passed in Class XII exams.
When it comes to its much publicised scheme of building additional classrooms, the data shows that 8,095 classrooms have been made functional with a target of 12,000 classrooms by the end of the year.