The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is understood to be thinking of dropping its ambitious plan to reduce fares of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses by 75% after Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal returned the file and asked the government to rethink the proposal.
The proposal was aimed at encouraging people to use public transport to combat air pollution in the Capital and had, in fact, been suggested by Mr. Baijal’s predecessor Najeeb Jung.
“The government wanted to implement the proposal to slash bus fares by 75%, but the L-G had returned the proposal to the government for reconsideration. Additionally, pollution has so far not reached ‘severe level’ in the Capital, there is no need to reduce bus fares aimed at bringing it [the pollution level] down,” said a senior government official.
The decision to introduce a flat rate of ₹5 for non-AC buses and ₹10 for AC buses had been announced by Transport Minister Satyendar Jain in December. The file was returned by the L-G in view of its financial implications.
