Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s Transport Department that has, for the first time presented a separate budget of Rs 250 crore, has been found running its affairs with short of hands. The Transport Department has a mere six employees of its own. The onus of running the department and mobilising revenue lies with the “truant” contractors who operate the city bus services. Forget the lack of employees, the Transport Department is bereft of a vigilance team that could monitor the working of contractors and carry surprise inspections.
No surprise the Transport Department is suffering losses. Crores of rupees are likely to be spent for functions of the department annually. The department needs at least 40 employees to keep a close watch on the activities of the contractors. It is need of the hour considering the mess. The NMC Administration, by handing over the transport service to private hands, has already dented its and government’s coffers to a large extent. The previous operator (Vansh Nimay Infraprojects Limited) mopped up crores and left the NMC with pending dues in crores as well. The NMC Administration has abysmally failed to recover the dues. Today, four new operators are running the city bus services. But the Transport Department has no sufficient hands to rein in the operators. The outcome is dent in daily income and hassles to commuters.
Routes of five Green buses under wraps:
The day the NMC Administration went on publicity stunt of running environment-friendly Green buses on city streets, the routes on which the buses are running are under wraps. Nobody knows the routes. During presentation of Transport Department’s budget, it was told that passengers for Green buses have been found wanting. The reason put forth this malady was cited as high fares. But no one in the NMC Administration is ready to disclose the five routes the Green buses are running.
Even the Transport Department is short of hands, it is always crowded. Visitors are found lining up at the doors of the department and the Transport Committee. The visitors include job seekers, “job providers,” and the citizens having a number of complaints regarding the bus service.
