Non-payment of dues may bring Nagpur buses to halt from today

NAGPUR: Private bus operators running the city bus service have threatened to put the brakes on the service starting Friday over non-payment of dues by Nagpur Municipal Corporation. They said the

NMC

had not paid them since September this year and the dues have mounted to over Rs47.5 crore.

Mayor

Nanda Jichkar

added she has already asked the civic chief to release the dues of all operators. According to her, the commuters should not be put to any inconvenience due to non-payment to the operators.

Transport committee chairman

Bunty Kukde

and NMC’s chief accounts and finance in-charge officer and deputy director (audit) Mona Thakur were not available for comments.

Thakur

also did not respond to SMS by TOI.

A senior transport official said NMC’s financial condition was not good. Despite this, NMC had made part payments to the three red and one green bus operators till September, he claimed. “NMC could not pay the operators since October,” the officer admitted.

The civic body has also defaulted on payments due to Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd (DIMTS), the private firm appointed to monitor the four operators and provide conductors through two conductors’ agencies. NMC has not made their payments amounting to Rs15 crore. The outstanding payments include November month too.

Though operators refused say anything officially, sources said they were facing difficulty in operating 350-bus fleet without getting dues. On Thursday evening, all three operators slashed the number of buses on major routes to cut down their expenses. TOI witnessed many buses overcrowded plying.

Sources said daily expenditure of each red bus operators was approximate Rs6.5 lakh. Besides this, their monthly wage bill was around Rs75 lakh, maintenance accounts of Rs30 lakh, bank loan repayment Rs30 lakh a month plus insurance, taxes, depot management and accidental and miscellaneous expenses of Rs15 lakh.

Sources blamed the NMC’s transport department for the messThey said NMC hadi even failed to open escrow account of Rs60 crore that was to be opened.

The civic body has also diverted revenue generated by city buses for other works. Had the NMC deposited it in escrow account, it could have made at least part payments to the operators, said sources. NMC’s transport department was well aware of the loss incurred in operating city bus service.

The civic body expected to earn Rs117.81 crore from ticketing. NMC also expected a grant of Rs12 crore from the state government and is trying hard to get some financial assistance from government. The expenditure is much more than income from bus operation. The civic body is expected to pay Rs219 crore to five operators — three Red Bus operators, Green Bus operator

Scania

, and DIMTS.

The general body has already okayed Rs108 crore as grant to

City Transport Committee

to make for the loss.