Bus purchase issue rocks House

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 11

The purchase of electric buses by the present and the previous government generated heat in the House during Question Hour today. The issue came up for discussion on a query raised by BJP MLA from Nurpur Rakesh Pathania.

On the request of Pathania, Minister for Transport Govind Thakur assured the House to bring a White Paper and hold an inquiry into the purchase of buses during the stint of the previous Congress government.

The minister justified the purchase of electric buses at lower rates by the government after the Opposition alleged irregularities in it. In response to queries of Mukesh Agnihotri, Govind Thakur informed the House that his department was purchasing 50 electric buses under the Smart City scheme and another 30 electric buses were being purchased by the HRTC.

The minister claimed that during the stint of the previous Congress government, electric buses were purchased at Rs 1.96 crore and an annual maintenance contract (AMC) of Rs 36 lakh per annum was given to companies that provided the buses. The minister claimed that the present government had purchased electric buses for Rs 76,97,922 from PMI Electro Mobility Solutions.

Congress MLA Harshvardhan Chauhan said the present government had split the cost and annual maintenance to favour a particular company. He alleged that the present government was purchasing an electric bus for Rs 76 lakh while its annual maintenance was Rs 78 lakh.

Agnihotri said if the AMC was more than the cost, then the government could purchase a new bus every year. He said Raj Bhavan had marked an inquiry into the purchase of electric buses.

Govind Thakur, however, said no AMC was being paid. Instead, the company would set up a workshop in Himachal to repair the buses. He said the complaint made to Raj Bhavan was false. In case nothing came out of it, the government would take legal recourse against the complainant.

Minister assures probe

• On the request BJP MLA from Nurpur Rakesh Pathania, Transport Minister Govind Thakur assured the House of bringing a White Paper and hold an inquiry into the purchase of buses during the stint of the previous Congress government.
• The minister said during the stint of the previous government, 2,101 buses were purchased. A loan of Rs 260.50 crore was raised by the HRTC from various financial bodies.
• As many as 325 buses, purchased during the stint of previous Congress government, were off road. The government has put 185 buses on road.