Gujarat govt spent Rs 75 cr on hiring ST buses in two years

The state government spent a staggering Rs 75 crore on hiring State Transport buses for various official programmes in the past two years, the government revealed in the Assembly on Thursday.

In a written reply to the House, the state Transport Minister said, the government was billed Rs 18.39 crore in 2016 by Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) for providing buses for various government programmes. In 2017, the amount rose to Rs 57.02 crore, which works out at Rs1.1 crore every week.

The information was provided in response to a question by Gayasuddin Shaikh, a Congress MLA from Dariapur seat.

The sharp rise in expenditure on hiring ST buses in 2017 can be attributed to increase in the number of government programmes ahead of the elections. A large number of buses were also hired for various programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he visited the state.

The minister also mentioned that for expenditures made in 2016, the state government has paid Rs 15.58 crore to GSRTC so far; a payment of Rs 2.8 crore remains pending. Similarly, for 2017, Rs 38.86 crore has been paid to the corporation, while Rs 18.16 crore remains due.