Govt eye on ‘public reaction’, BRTs fall out of favour

Treading with caution in the election year, the Delhi government handed out a "token fund" of Rs 10 lakh handed out for the Bus Rapid Transit corridors, with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit clarifying after her budget speech on Wednesday that the "mixed public reaction to the project'' had led the government to go slow.

The Transport department had asked the government for a fund of Rs 100 crore.

The detailed project report (DPR) for Karawal Nagar-Shastri Nagar-More Gate corridor is ready and work on the project was expected to start in the coming financial year. But the corridor is still awaiting Cabinet approval.

"The total cost of the Karawal Nagar-Shastri Nagar-More Gate corridor is approximately Rs 350 crore. We asked the government for Rs 100 crore to start Phase-I of the project in 2013-14, but BRT corridors has only been given a 'token fund' of Rs 10 lakh. The government no longer seems interested in pursing this project after all the negative reactions it got from the public when the matter was being heard in the Delhi High Court,'' a Transport official said.

A source said the government is yet to pay Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) the full amount for preparing the Karawal Nagar stretch DPR.

"The government can always allocate money for this project from the unplanned budget in case it wants to go ahead, but it seems unlikely especially in an election year with such strong public opinion against the BRT,'' the source said.

After her budget presentation, Dikshit said: "We are yet to take a decision on the BRT issue. We have received a lot of mixed feedback — some for it and some against it. We will only go ahead with the project once it is properly assessed.''

Meanwhile, DIMTS is waiting for government clearance to prepare the DPR for the other six corridors under them. "The government has put this clearance on hold for right now,'' the source said.

... contd.

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