It was the third day of the trial run of Delhi’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the chaos unleashed by it is just growing bigger.
NEW DELHI: It was the third day of the trial run of Delhi’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the chaos unleashed by it is just growing bigger.
On Tuesday, while chief minister Sheila Dikshit pulled up all implementing agencies and officials related to the project, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) saw an opportunity to catapult the resulting bedlam into a political issue. “The trial of the BRT corridor has exposed the countless chinks in the project. We have been opposed to this project since the time the ruling Congress proposed this absolutely weird idea. They (the government) are completely detached from the problems of the common man,” said BJP state-unit chief Harshvardhan.
The BJP is now planning to organise protests against the project to “highlight the corruption behind the project and the problems of the aam aadmi.” The youth-wing of the party is also planning to organise a candlelight protest march on Wednesday.
“The issue here is that the Congress has taken money from the project’s contractors and consultants. Now they realise that the project is not practical but can’t do anything about it,” Harshvardhan alleged.
Dikshit, meanwhile, went into damage control mode on Tuesday. At a high-level meeting of all stakeholders of the project, the chief minister is believed to have sternly expressed her displeasure over the immense criticism that the “flawed” project has attracted.
Transport authorities are believed to have once again trained their guns at the notorious Blueline buses for the resulting chaos. After the meeting, the state government decided to take the “indisciplined” Bluelines off the 5.8 km trial route stretching from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand flyover and replace them by high-capacity low floor buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
Sources said that at the meeting, Dikshit asked state transport minister Haroon Yusuf, chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, transport commissioner RK Verma and other officials to ensure coordination and overcome the teething problem as soon as possible. The CM has also put the other proposed six BRT projects on hold for now.
“All other BRT projects have been stalled till the government is satisfied with the first project. We are reviewing the situation and trying to overcome difficulties resulting in the chaos,” Dikshit said.
However, with the state going to polls later this year, projects such as the BRT, which have attracted the wrath of the voters, are sure to embarrass the government and cost it dear during the hustings. “The project has been another failure on the part of the state government after the land sealing fiasco. It is certainly going to be an election issue,” Harshvardhan said.
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}