The lackadaisical attitude of the administration towards city’s infrastructure is witnessed from the delay in public transport projects including the non air-conditioned radio cabs and micro school escort—- the project of providing transport facility to students of government schools at concessional rates. While the proposal of non-AC radio cabs was floated two years ago, nearly six months have passed when the proposal of school buses was raised.

The STA had even announced the date —-September 25— for the launch of buses under micro school escort. While earlier the fate of the proposals was uncertain over the issue of display of advertisements on the vehicles, their materialisation is still uncertain even after the short-listed applicants have agreed not to display advertisements on vehicles as demanded by the administration.

The school bus project is now hanging fire due to objections raised by the Education Department and the fare of radio cabs is yet to be notified. “The objections raised by the Education Department over the mode of payment is yet to be addressed.Short-listed operators for non-AC radio cabs are awaiting the notification of fare —-Rs 13 per km—- which they have agreed upon,” said STA Secretary Vandana Disoidia.

By now, even the short-listed operators have lost interest in the projects. “The administration should have addressed all issues before inviting applications. It is still uncertain how much time will it take for the administration to materialise these projects,” said Biresh Singh, managing director Atlantic Motors.