BRT corridor draining transport dept coffers department's pocket

Even as the city debates the success of the only operational bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor here, the transport department is spending lakhs of rupees for the maintenance and security of the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand BRT corridor.

“During the financial year 2011-12, an expenditure of Rs 2.81 crore was incurred on the maintenance of the corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate. In addition, Rs 89 lakh was spent on the signalling system installed on the stretch,” a transport department official said in response to a RTI query.

While figures show maintenance cost of the entire 14.5 km stretch of the Ambedkar Nagar-Delhi Gate BRT corridor, only 5.7 km between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand is currently operational.

According to the RTI reply, a team of three supervisors and 24 marshals work in each shift (there are three shifts) for traffic management at the corridor. An average expenditure of Rs 6.63 lakh per month has been incurred for traffic management at the corridor during the last fiscal.

Besides, average expenditure for mechanised and manual cleaning has been Rs 4.40 lakh per month, taking the monthly expense for the maintenance and security to Rs 11.03 lakh.

The transport department has also deployed a crane at the corridor. “The total expenditure, including cost of operator and helper, running and maintenance of the crane is Rs 60,000 per month,” the RTI reply said.

While Rs 190.17 crore was spent on the construction of the BRT between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate, the transport department, in the RTI reply, said they do not have a separate figure for the cost of constructing the operational stretch from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand.