State transport dept rubbishes Gupta's allegations on Hardeep's DTC cluster deal

Reacting to BJP’s allegation that former transport minister Arvinder Singh had close relations with Hardeep Singh, one of the murdered Chadha brothers, and managed a cluster bus contract because of it, the city government on Tuesday termed the allegations baseless and bogus and explained how the contract was awarded.

“The allegation is baseless and has no substance. The project of operation of bus clusters has been awarded through an open, transparent and competitive bidding process. Those who qualified the technical criteria and quoted the lowest (L1, lowest bidder) were approved,” said a press statement released by the city transport department on Tuesday.

It said that AB Grain Spirits Pvt Ltd was one of the successful bidders among many companies such as Star Bus Pvt Ltd, Indraprashta Logistics Ltd and Goverdhan Transport Company Pvt Ltd, which were awarded contract of different clusters.

The department also put on record that strict performance evaluation is an extant process, as a result of which Rs 1.08 crore has already been imposed on AB Grain Spirits Pvt Ltd as penalty (performance shortfall deductions).

City BJP president Vijender Gupta on Tuesday wrote a letter to Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, demanding thorough investigation in the matter.
“It is worth mentioning that the younger brother, Hardeep Singh Chaddha, had links with local politicians such as transport minister Arvinder Singh, and there was alleged collusion between them in the case of contract for cluster bus service in Delhi,” wrote Gupta.

Hardeep Chadha was also involved in the affairs of the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee in Delhi. Gupta said Hardeep’s father-in-law Harinder Singh is the younger brother of present president of SGPC Paramjeet Singh Sarna, he added.

Earlier this month, there was a serious fight involving firearms between two sections of the Sikh community at Rakab Ganj Gurdwara, and Sarna was blamed for getting the leader of opposition group beaten up.

Gupta alleged that police did not take action Sarna because Arvinder Singh is the also the minister-in-charge of SGPC.


Gupta’s letter

“In my considered view and being the leader of a responsible opposition party like BJP, the role of Arvinder Singh, the then transport minister and minister-in-charge of SGPC,  in both the incidents of Rekabganj Gurdwara fight and the twin brothers’ murders at Chhattarpur, has to be investigated from every angle by police in the interest of fair and just enquiry,” said the letter.