New Delhi: According to the report of Controller and Auditor General of India (CAG), by March 31, 2022, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), which has been surviving on lifeblood for any city public transport system, is really at the verge of financial disarray. The report tabled by Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta says that liabilities of the Corporation have tremendously soared from Rs 28,263 crore in 15 16 20 to a mind-blowing Rs 65,274 crore during 20 21 22. During that period, operational losses incurred by DTC exceeded Rs 14,000 crore.
Among other concerns raised in the report, one is the lack of a structured business plan. DTC has neither formulated a long-term business plan nor signed an MoU with the state government to target the interventions for curtailment of its losses, which are rising. Moreover, DTC has not rendered a comparison of its performance against other state transport undertakings, which has aggravated operational problems.
In terms of fleet strength, the DTC bus fleet is down from 4,344 buses in 2015 to 3,937 by 2023, with increasing numbers of old, overaged buses lining the roads. For its part, over 44.96 percent of the fleet, that is, 1,770 buses, was overage by 2023. This particular situation with frequent breakdowns severely hampered fleet utilization and vehicle productivity, leading to an estimated loss of Rs 668.60 crore in revenue potential.
Procurement of electric buses (EBs), if any, that could have helped in solving part of the problems has been sluggish. From 2021 to 23 only 300 EBs were procured, and the delay for the next 300 has cost DTC an opportunity loss of Rs 29.86 crore penalty-free.
In addition, most of the significant infrastructural assignments - the Automatic Fare Collection System, CCTV installation over buses, etc. - have been stalled or left incomplete, which heightens the operational woes for the corporation.
In fact, if reforms of innovative optimization were not taken up soon by DTC, the financial health of the corporation would continue to deteriorate and burden the public transport system in Delhi.
[Source Credit: Deccan Chronicle]
