JOIN USDTC wants welfare dept to settle 2-year-old bill
Keeping the poor man’s money is not done. Especially so if the keeper is the ‘rich’ social welfare department of the city government and sufferer is the Delhi Transport Corporation, which has been incurring losses running into crores of rupees every year.
According to information, the women and child development department owes Rs 1.10 crore to DTC as outstanding payment for displaying the department’s public service messages on its buses.
Despite DTC reminding the department time and again to pay up for the last two years, no money has been transferred.
A senior DTC official said the women and child development department had asked the transport corporation in July 2010 to display social messages related to the just-launched ‘Ladli Stree Shakti Scheme’.
The messages were to be displayed on the rear windshield of 500 low-floor buses for a month at the rate of Rs 20,000 per bus.
“As per the agreement, we displayed the messages on our 500 buses from September 13 to October 12, 2010, and accordingly a bill of Rs 1 crore plus service tax of Rs 10.30 lakh was raised for payment. But almost two years have passed since then, and not a single penny has been given,” said the official.
A reminder was also sent last week to the director of the women and child development department.
While social welfare minister Kiran Walia is touring South Africa, director of women and child development department Rajeev Kale could not be reached for comment despite several attempts by Deccan Herald.
In a cabinet rejig last month, the transport department was given to Ramakant Goswami. This has enthused DTC officials, who believe that the new minister will be able to get chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s ear on the matter.
Earlier this month, the Delhi Transport Corporation had launched a special drive to catch ticketless travellers in its fleet of 6,204 buses.