CAG report on DTC referred to committee on government undertakings

Delhi Assembly speaker Vijender Gupta on Friday said the Comptroller Auditor General’s report on the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) suggests that due to the previous government’s alleged mismanagement and negligence, crores of rupees of taxpayers have been wasted.

He said that the same is now being referred to the Committee on Government Undertakings with instructions to submit its report within three months.

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Additionally, the Transport Department and DTC must submit their Action Taken Note to the Legislative Secretariat within one month from now, the speaker added.

Speaker Gupta in his statement said that the House held a detailed discussion on the CAG report presented regarding the “Functioning of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC),” and several members have expressed their serious concerns in this regard.

He mentioned that the CAG’s audit covers the period from 2015-2016 to 2021-2022, and this report highlights serious irregularities in the functioning of DTC, some of which include that it did not prepare any business plan or long-term strategy, the DTC fleet reduced from 4,344 to 3,937 buses, whereas, as per the directions of the Delhi High Court, there should have been 11,000 buses despite the availability of funds.

Further the DTC failed to impose a penalty of Rs 29.86 crore for the delay in the supply of electric buses, by March 31, 2023, the percentage of over-aged low-floor buses increased to 44.96 per cent, and during the period from 2015 to 2022, DTC suffered a financial loss of Rs 14,198 crore.

Deficiencies were found in route planning, with DTC buses operating on only 57 per cent of the designated routes, making it impossible for the transport corporation to recover operational costs on any route.

The CCTV system installed in March 2021 had not been declared “Go Live” even by May 2023.

Despite operating under similar conditions, cluster buses performed significantly better than DTC buses, he added.