In just 5 years, DTC lost Rs 5,000 crore: CAG

New Delhi: The audit of Delhi Transport Corporation by CAG comes as an eye- opener, especially after it was lauded for its work during the two rounds of odd-even scheme. The CAG report, which spans over the financial years from 2010 to 2015, list many irregularities with the biggest being the loss of Rs 5,022.05 crore on operations. The reason is DTC's refusal to rationalise its bus routes and inefficient route planning.
DTC was operating 574 out of 791 routes as on March 31, 2015. "Comparing the earning per km (EPK) with total operating cost per km, the audit observed that not one of these routes was profitable and many of them were not recovering even the variable cost (excluding employee cost, depreciation, etc)," said the report. As a result, DTC suffered a loss of Rs 5,022.05 crore on operations during 2010-2015.
"The management stated (February, 2016) that the buses were allocated on a route based on its income and passenger load factor. The reply is not tenable as the corporation was not compiling any route-wise income and expenditure data," the report added.
The corporation also did not carry out a periodical review of its routes for optimising revenue, even though many of them were not recovering even the variable cost that increased from 15.24% to 63.80% during 2010-2015. This is despite the fact that Delhi government had ordered a route rationalisation report by DIMTS.
The transport department's decision to allow cluster buses, via DIMTS, to operate on more profitable routes in greater numbers than that agreed upon added to DTC's mounting losses.
The CAG report said, "The audit observed that deployment of buses between DTC and cluster buses on 13 routes with comparatively higher earning per kilometre was not in accordance with agreed ratio of 50:50." The auditor found that 7.14% to 28.57% trips were allocated to cluster buses in excess of the agreed share.
"The corporation pointed out the deficiency to the transport department on seven routes. The department of transport had not taken action till date to enforce the agreed proportion of buses," said the report, adding that the failure to ensure adherence to the agreed 50:50 ratio "adversely impacted" the revenue earning potential of DTC and impacted its financial interest.
A list of other deficiencies that led to losses include missed kilometres, which went up over the past five years. "Ratio of trips operated by corporation buses against trips scheduled increased from 79.13% in 2010-11 to 85.76% in 2011-12, but decreased to 80.33% in 2014-15," said the report. Interestingly, 1,888 buses of 34 depots were challaned and impounded for 3,831 days during 2010-15 resulting in 7.38 lakh km being missed and Rs 1.29 crore revenue being lost.
The rate of breakdowns per 10,000km went up during the same period, from 1.77 in 2010-11 to 5.35 in 2014-15. A total of 67 fire incidents in buses also took place.
DTC also lost out on funds worth Rs 204.57 crore under JNNURM for procurement of buses as it couldn't buy them, even though it had the funds. Further, the fleet utilisation and vehicle productivity was less than all-India averages.