The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has been running into losses of over ₹1,000 crore annually since 2015 though it has been unable to add even one bus to its existing fleet, the Transport Department informed the Delhi Assembly during the monsoon session, which concluded on July 30.
The city government also denied reports that an extra amount of ₹1,000 crore was to be paid to manufacturers of 1,000 low-floor buses being procured by the DTC for the comprehensive annual maintenance contract.
These statements were made by the Transport Department in the Delhi Assembly in a written reply to a question by BJP MLA Vijender Gupta on Thursday.
In a reply to another question by BJP MLA Ajay Mahawar, the department said the DTC has not bought any buses after 2015.
However, it also stated, that under the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) operated cluster scheme, 1,387 buses were procured after 2015.
In the past six years, the DTC suffered losses of ₹1,019.36 crore in 2014-15, ₹1,250.15 crore in 2015-16, ₹1,381.78 crore in 2016-17, ₹1,730.02 crore in 2017-18, and ₹1,664.56 crore in 2018-19. According to the interim estimates for 2019-20, the losses stood at ₹1,834.67 crore, it said.
Pusa bio-decomposer
In a related development, the government informed the Assembly it spent over ₹15.8 crore on advertisements related to the Pusa bio-decomposer and ₹40,000 on the chemical that converts paddy straw or stubble into manure.
It has also spent ₹4,69,000 on training and awareness programmes against stubble burning among farmers, the Directorate of Information and Publicity of the Delhi government said in a written reply to BJP MLA O.P. Sharma's question during the session.