|
|
Patna,(BiharTimes): Following non-utilization of fund the urban development department may be compelled to return Rs 70 crore sanctioned by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the improvement of transport system in Patna and Bodh Gaya.
|
The fund was sanctioned three years back to procure 100 semi-low-floor buses for these two places. But the department failed to achieve any success in this regard. The JNNURM would lapse this March.
Reports said that two previous attempts by the urban development department to invite proposals from bus operators as part of the scheme proved futile.
The department could not utilise the amount in the past three years because of non-participation of operators owing to various reasons.
Seventy semi-low-floor and non-AC buses were supposed to run in Patna under the urban transport scheme of JNNURM. Besides, there was a plan to operate 30 low-floor AC buses in the state capital as part of the ambitious urban transport scheme. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of JNNURM had, in its 69th meeting on February 20 and 21, 2009, approved the purchase of buses for Patna and Bodh Gaya.
As the scheme was supposed to be implemented in public-private partnership (PPP) mode, the urban development department invited expressions of interest from operators in June 2009 and February 2010. But the department did not receive any bid.
Experts attribute this lack of interest of operators to narrow roads and encroachments. Besides these buses are longer in size than those operating in these two cities.
comments...
| 
