Delhi Assembly Discusses CAG Findings on DTC Financial Mismanagement, Report Expected in 3 Months

New Delhi, March 28 (NationPress) The Delhi Assembly convened on Friday to deliberate on a CAG report highlighting financial mismanagement at the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), which has now been referred to the Committee on Government Undertakings for a detailed report to be submitted within three months.

Speaker Vijender Gupta emphasized that both the Transport Department and DTC are required to provide their Action Taken Note to the Legislative Secretariat within one month.

The session discussing DTC occurred with the absence of AAP legislators, who either staged a walkout or were suspended by the Speaker due to unruly behavior.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report, which outlines the functioning of DTC for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, was presented by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta during the assembly on Monday.

This report uncovered instances of mismanagement and negligence within the public transport system from 2016 to 2022 under the AAP government, leading to the wastage of crores of rupees contributed by Delhi taxpayers due to a state of policy paralysis.

A thorough discussion took place regarding the CAG's findings on the “Functioning of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)”.

Participating in the discussion, Malviya Nagar legislator Satish Upadhyay remarked that DTC, once the city’s lifeline, has now devolved into a ‘Drastically Troubled Corporation’ under the AAP government.

He noted that DTC's losses escalated over six years by Rs 35,000 crore, climbing from Rs 25,300 crore in 2015-16 to approximately Rs 60,750 crore in 2021-22, which reflects the AAP government's failure to devise a profitable strategy.

“It is alarming that DTC's losses account for nearly 60 percent of the Rs 1 lakh crore Budget that Chief Minister Rekha Gupta presented for 2025-26,” he stated.

Criticizing DTC for poor data collection, Shahdara MLA Sanjay Goyal pointed out CAG findings indicating significant deficiencies in route planning, as the public transporter operates buses on only 57 percent of designated routes, rendering it incapable of recovering operational costs.

Goyal further stated that despite these issues, DTC lacks a recovery roadmap.

“If even one AAP legislator had the courage to question Arvind Kejriwal, DTC's situation would have been much better,” he added.

The CAG report also highlighted the escalating financial losses of the public transporter, which has been providing free rides to women for the past decade while struggling to phase out aging, polluting vehicles with electric buses.

Irregularities pointed out by the CAG regarding DTC's operations include the failure to draft a business plan or long-term strategy and inaction in preventing fleet depletion despite available funds.

The DTC fleet has shrunk from 4,344 to 3,937 buses, whereas, according to directives from the Delhi High Court, there should be 11,000 buses, as stated in the report.

The public auditor also observed that DTC failed to impose a penalty of Rs 29.86 crore for delays in the supply of electric buses. Consequently, by March 31, 2023, the percentage of over-aged low-floor buses surged to 44.96 percent.

From 2015 to 2022, the DTC incurred an operating loss of Rs 14,198 crore, according to the report.

Additionally, the report noted that the CCTV system installed in buses as of March 2021 had not yet been declared “Go Live” by May 2023.

A total of Rs 225.31 crore was owed to the corporation from the Transport Department, and revenue losses were incurred due to delays in awarding advertising contracts and allocating commercial space, as per the CAG report.