Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Friday that state of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), with a staggering debt of Rs 60,741 crore as revealed by the CAG report, is miserable.
During a discussion on the CAG reports on the DTC in the assembly, she said the number of buses in the transport corporation’s fleet decreased from 4,344 in 2015 to 3,937 in 2023.
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Gupta affirmed government’s unwavering commitment to improving Delhi’s transport infrastructure, including modernizing all ISBTs into multi-story commercial complexes. “The CAG report, which examines DTC’s operational status from 2015-16 to 2021-22, underscores the challenges plaguing Delhi’s public transport,” she added.
She expressed grave concern over the deterioration of DTC’s financial and operational health, attributing it to administrative inefficiency and negligence during the tenure of the previous government.
The CM said that DTC, which was once a successful and important public service that could have also generated revenue, has now turned into a loss-making organization.
As per the report, the cumulative losses reached Rs 60,471 crore, operational losses alone amounting to Rs 14,198 crores, Gupta added.
She said, “The decline in DTC’s performance stems largely from a lack of political will, oversight, and an excessive focus on publicity by the previous government. While Delhi has 814 bus routes, buses are operational on only 468 routes, resulting in reduced public convenience and diminished revenue from ticket sales. Furthermore, the government incurred a loss of Rs 668 crores due to breakdowns and delays in bus operations.”
“The number of buses operated by DTC fell from 4,344 in 2015 to 3,937 in 2023, despite the Supreme Court’s 2007 directive that Delhi requires 11,000 buses,” she added.
“Regarding ticketing, Kejriwal ji had claimed that women were not getting tickets. In reality, women are indeed getting tickets but the Opposition is not getting their share, this is what bothers Kejriwal. Now, the Opposition has struggled to adapt to the governance model implemented by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government”, she added.
The CM attributed DTC’s plight to alleged mismanagement and corruption by the previous government. She condemned the underutilization of valuable assets, including bus depots and ISBTs, which could have been leveraged to generate additional revenue.
She mentioned that advertising opportunities on buses were also neglected. Instead, the DTC became increasingly dependent on government grants, which remain its primary source of income today, she added.
“Due to the current shortage of buses, approximately 4,000 DTC drivers remain idle while receiving salaries. The urgent need to revitalize the DTC and transform it into a profitable and service-oriented organization. The previous government failed to utilize Central Government assistance of Rs 49 crores under the FAME-I and FAME-II schemes for purchasing electric buses.”
