Delhi Assembly: CM Rekha Gupta to Present CAG Report on Air Quality Tomorrow

New Delhi, March 31 (NationPress) Issues regarding the ‘Pollution Under Control’ certification for vehicles and the influx of polluting trucks into Delhi are set to be addressed in the Assembly on Tuesday. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta is poised to present a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which will highlight the shortcomings of the prior AAP administration in tackling the city’s hazardous air quality.

CM Gupta will unveil the CAG report on the 'Performance Audit on Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi', which evaluates Arvind Kejriwal’s effectiveness in this area up until March 31, 2021.

This marks the third occasion the BJP government has tabled a CAG report in the Assembly since taking office, following earlier discussions on the health sector and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

As of Friday, the Assembly had reviewed a CAG report detailing financial mismanagement at the DTC, which has been referred to the Committee on Government Undertakings for a report within three months.

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

The Assembly discussion regarding DTC unfolded in the absence of AAP legislators, who either walked out or faced suspension by the Speaker due to disorderly conduct.

The report titled “Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Functioning of Delhi Transport Corporation for the year ended March 31, 2022” was presented by the Chief Minister on March 24.

This CAG report revealed significant mismanagement and negligence within public transport from 2016 to 2022 under the AAP government, leading to the alleged waste of taxpayer money due to policy inaction.

The Assembly engaged in an extensive discussion on the CAG findings related to the “Functioning of the Delhi Transport Corporation”.

During the debate, Malviya Nagar legislator Satish Upadhyay remarked that while the DTC was once the city’s backbone, it has now become the ‘Drastically Troubled Corporation’ under the AAP government.

He noted that the DTC's losses surged by Rs 35,000 crore over six years, escalating from Rs 25,300 crore in 2015-16 to nearly Rs 60,750 crore in 2021-22, thus underscoring the AAP government's failure to devise a profitable strategy.

“It is alarming that the DTC's losses account for nearly 60 percent of the Rs 1 lakh crore Budget proposed by CM Rekha Gupta for 2025-26,” he added.

The CAG report also highlighted the rising financial difficulties of the public transporter, which has been providing free rides to women for the past decade while struggling to replace its aging, polluting vehicles with electric buses.

The report pointed out irregularities in DTC operations, including the absence of any business plan or long-term strategy, and the failure to prevent fleet depletion despite having funds available.

The DTC fleet shrank from 4,344 to 3,937 buses, while according to the Delhi High Court's orders, there should have been 11,000 buses in operation, the report indicated.

The central auditor also observed that DTC did not impose a penalty of Rs 29.86 crore for delays in the supply of electric buses. Consequently, by March 31, 2023, 44.96 percent of the low-floor buses were overaged.

Between 2015 and 2022, DTC recorded an operational loss of Rs 14,198 crore, as per the report.

Additionally, the report noted that the CCTV system installed in buses in March 2021 had not been activated by May 2023.

The corporation was also due to recover Rs 225.31 crore from the Transport Department, with revenue losses attributed to delays in awarding advertising contracts and commercial space allocations, the CAG report elaborated.