SHILLONG, MAY 1: The state government has incurred unnecessary expenditure for more than two years just to pay rent for keeping the damaged Shillong Transport Public Service (STPS) buses in the different depots.
This was revealed during an inspection conducted by the Urban Affairs Minister Hamletson Dohling to these depots located at Mawpat, Laitkor and Mawblei here on Tuesday. This was after the department had recently submitted a proposal to dispose of a total of 53 defunct buses.
It was informed that the department had to rent private lands to park these buses. According to an official, the landowner at Laitkor, where 17 buses are being kept, is charging a monthly rent of Rs 40,000 while the one at Mawkynroh (having 9 buses) is taking Rs 550 for each bus per month.
Another 20 buses are also parked in a private land at Mawpat at a cost of Rs 5,000 per month, which however is being paid by the operator (Synroplang Self Help Group) and 7 others at a government owned land at Mawblei.
Thus, the state government had spent over Rs 10 lakh just on payment of rent for keeping these buses.
Speaking to reporters, Dohling admitted that keeping the damaged buses has led to unnecessary expenditure by the department.
“Keeping this in mind, I had decided to conduct this inspection to assess the condition of these buses,” he said while informing there are some buses that needs minor repairing while some requires to be disposed of, in view of the high repairing cost.
Stating that he has asked for a quick report on the matter, Dohling said, “We have to speed up the process to ensure such unnecessary expenditure is curtailed.” He said that the department may also consider allowing interested groups to repair the buses with minor defects.
Asked on the reason behind for the buses to remain off road, the minister said the main problem with most of these buses which were supplied by the Ashok Leyland is the defect on the engine and the non-availability of spare parts.
He also admitted that the department should have ensured during the time of buying these buses that the company have an after-sale services.
The 53 buses were of the 120 sanctioned in the phase-I under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) in 2010. These were mainly supplied by the Ashok Leyland.
However, the 139 buses sanctioned during the second phase in 2015 are still functioning, according to officials.
It may be mentioned here, the project was implemented with the aim to provide convenience transport services to the public.
By Our Reporter
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