New Delhi, June 30
The impression of the Delhi Government running an efficient public transport in the form of swanky red and green low-floor buses takes a beating because of poor maintenance of these buses.

During the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Delhi Transport Corporation introduced the buses which were supplied by Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors. Of the 5,400 buses in the DTC fleet, there are 2,500 green non-AC and 1,275 red AC buses while the rest are old models.

Hansraj, who drives a low-floor bus on Mehrauli-Old Delhi railway station, said even though the company maintenance crew is supposed to reach the broken-down vehicle within four hours, the deadline is seldom adhered to. “Sometimes we have to wait for 24 hours on the road for the mechanic and we cannot just leave the bus unattended,” said the driver.

He said that a few months ago, a fire was reported on a low-floor bus on account of inadequate maintenance, forcing the authorities to stop several vehicles plying from the Rajghat depot. Even now the full complement has not been restored.

The reference was to the development in April this year when over 900 buses were held back in depots.

Neeraj Kumar, another driver, said, “We leave the bus for repair and maintenance, but the technicians do not care.”

A majority of the drivers cited poor maintenance in these buses as a major irritant.

An official at Ashok Leyland office at the Rajghat bus depot refused to comment stating that he was not authorised to speak to the press, but promised to get a spokesman from Chennai headquarters to respond, but there was no response. The other company official in Delhi too chose not to comment.

Sukhbir Singh, who drives an air-conditioned low-floor bus on Delhi-Faridabad route, said ACs of most of the buses are in poor condition. “I have been driving the bus for 30 minutes but there is no cooling. It is a routine problem,” he said.

However, Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami expressed ignorance about the problem.

He said that the government had announced that it would impose a fine on the company if the buses were not maintained well, but added he was not aware of any penalty being imposed on this account.  

The Delhi Government had sometime ago said that a hefty fine of Rs 3,000 would be imposed for failure to maintain the buses.

The Chief General Manager, DTC Traffic, AK Goel, refused to share any data in this regard.

Senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said his party would raise this issue in the coming assembly session as this was a serious matter. “Neither the government nor companies are serious about maintenance of the buses. When the low-floor buses were purchased, we pointed out to the government that maintenance of theses buses was costly, but the government did not listen to us,” Malhotra said.

New Delhi, June 30
More than 300 principals of private unaided schools in Delhi have supported the BJP’s demand for providing relaxation in cut-off marks in Delhi University to the students passing out from the city schools.

The BJP has demanded that the students passing out from Delhi schools should be provided two to four per cent relaxation in cut-off marks in DU. 

Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel will lead a delegation of the school principals from unaided schools to meet the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University to hand over a memorandum and discuss the challenges faced by Delhi students in getting admission to colleges.  

Goel expressed his solidarity with the concern of the principals over the increasing number of students passing out from Delhi schools not being able to get admission to DU colleges.

Goel said that being a former DUSU president and having been part of various bodies associated with the DU over the last four decades, he understood the challenges faced by the students.

More than 300 school principals also signed the memorandum which will be handed over to the Vice-Chancellor, he said.

Goel assured the representatives of unaided schools that “holistic reforms in state of higher education” is on top of BJP’s agenda and the party has already taken up this issue with the authorities concerned. 

New Delhi, June 30
Female infanticide, alcoholism, illiteracy and child marriage were some of the social evils highlighted and discussed by women from the Jat community at a session in the Capital on Sunday.

The speakers, who included industrialists, politicians, educationists and social activists, were participating in the All India Jat Mahila Maha Sammelan to discuss empowerment of the community’s women.

Congress Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat Alka Balram Kshatriya said, “The people belonging to the Jat community are simple in nature but the status of women is abysmal. There are issues like child marriage and female infanticide, which are rampant.”

She stressed the need for empowerment of women in the Jat community.

Rita Singh, an industrialist, said there was a gender bias in the community which was one of the reasons why the women were lagging behind. “I hope that parents do not discriminate against their daughters. We all have to make sure there is no discrimination,” Rita Singh said.—IANS

New Delhi, June 30
The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (DSIIDC) will begin upgradation work on roads, footpaths and other infrastructure in Patparganj and Okhla Industrial Phase III from July 4.

The work will commence in the presence of Delhi Industry Minister Haroon Yusuf and representatives of industrial associations from the areas, a DSIIDC statement said today.

The two industrial areas had been transferred to the DSIIDC following the industrial policy of 2010-12.

According to the statement, the DSIIDC intends to upgrade the infrastructure of the industrial areas by improving roads, drains and footpaths.

“The DSIIDC will complete the construction work in both the cases in six months. The agency assigned with the job will also maintain these industrial areas for five years,” a DSIIDC spokesperson said.

The cost of construction and maintenance in the Patparganj industrial area will be approximately Rs 9.40 crore and while in Okhla Phase III, it will be Rs 6.55 crore.

The Patparganj industrial area, which was planned and commissioned in 1992, has 609 units engaged in manufacturing surgical goods, metal processing, dyeing, electro-plating, rolling and other high manufacturing sector.

New Delhi, June 30
The government officials will now hold a monthly meeting with the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) on regular basis in order to work in accordance with the response received from the citizens.

It was decided in a workshop by the RWAs on time-bound delivery of services. Concluded today, the workshop was organized to make the representatives aware of their rights and the commitment of the government to fulfill their aspirations.

While interacting with the representatives of different RWAs, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stated that the mechanism has helped in taming the lethargic government servants who were in the habit of sleeping over the applications of people.

“The citizens have now been empowered with a right to get their services within the stipulated time failing which the erring employee is liable to be fined Rs 10 per day,” said Dikshit. The time-bound delivery of services is a tool to overcome unnecessary delay in government offices and make its functioning smooth, she said.

The aggrieved applicant is entitled to getting the compensation in cash immediately out of amount collected as fine from the employees.

Around 55 lakh applications have been disposed of seeking delivery of public services in 24 departments and agencies. More than 51 lakh applicants are satisfied with the timely delivery of public services.

The government has placed 116 services under the ambit of e-SLA. It intends to extend the ambit of e-SLA at the earliest which would go a long way in making the governance more responsive, transparent and quick.