Nagpur Today: Nagpur: Thursday,
April 07, 2016.
The shabby
public transport system in the Second Capital City of Nagpur, with a population
of 30 lakh plus, could be gauged from the fact that out of 470 bus being run by
Nagpur Municipal Corporation 110 buses have been grounded for repairing
purpose. And out of these 110 non-running buses, 60 buses have been
straightaway dumped in scrapyard owing to ‘beyond repair’ status. Of the 470
buses, 230 are being run by the truant Star Bus operator Vansh Nimay
Infraprojects Ltd (VNIL) and remaining 240 buses are running under JNNURM
Scheme. The 60 scrap buses are literally gathering rust and dust days after
days as not a single bus has been sold to earn whatever amount of revenue for
the cash strapped NMC.
This
information was revealed by NMC in an RTI reply to a poser put up by reputed
RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar.
The RTI reply
further informs that the Star Buses have killed 23 persons and injured 68 in
the total of 79 accidents that took place in the period from 2013 to February
29, 2016. Many of the victims’ kin have filed cases in courts for compensation
but the NMC has paid Rs 2.28 lakh towards ex-gratia/medical treatment of
victims from January 2013 to February 29, 2016.
The Star Bus
operator Vansh Nimay Infraprojects Ltd was slapped a fine of Rs 12.28 lakh
including Rs 6.49 lakh for ill-maintaining the buses and Rs 5.79 lakh for not
running buses on sanctioned routes. The revenue earned through ticket fares is
deposited in the account of VNIL. The VNIL owes the Regional Transport Office
(RTO) a pending amount of Rs 7.93 crore on account of passenger tax and child
nutrition cess. The Star Bus operator has not paid the tax amount to RTO since
the year 2007 despite several reminders by the NMC. However, VNIL has paid Rs
6.76 crore towards bus insurance, RTO/Police challan and road tax in the period
from 2012-13 to 2015-16 finacial years, the RTI reply said.
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