Cabinet defers decision on procurement of 1,000 buses

New Delhi, May 15

The Delhi government today deferred its decision on approving transport department's proposal to procure 1,000 standard floor buses, a day after it assured the Delhi High Court that no contract for such buses would be awarded till May 23.

The Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, deferred its decision on the matter till Friday, directing the transport department to check whether the procurement is affected due to the court's order.

"The Cabinet meeting will again be held on May 18 to discuss the matter with regard to the procurement of 1,000 standard floor buses under Cluster Scheme," said a senior government official.

Last week too, the Cabinet could not decide on the proposal as queries raised over the plan and details were sought about the “viability gap” formula from the department.

Yesterday, the government and the DTC had assured the court that no contract for standard floor buses would be awarded till May 23, in the backdrop of objections of them not being disabled-friendly. The assurance was given as the court appeared inclined to stay the entire tender floated on March 15 for the procurement.

The DTC mainly runs around 3,700 low floor buses in the national capital while there are over 1,600 standard floor buses which ply under the 'Cluster Scheme'.

The other proposal for 1,000 “e-buses” will come before the cabinet later as it is being firmed up by the departments concerned, said officials.

Under the cluster scheme, 1,648 buses are being run by the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System.

Another 3,900 low-floor buses are run by the DTC. 

According to independent sources, Delhi requires 10,000 to 15,000 buses to meet its transport needs. — PTI