That over 50 buses meant for public transportation are lying unutilized and kept at an unguarded place where spare parts can easily be stolen, speaks of gross indifference on the part of the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) which is the point Department handling these public utilities. The buses were provided under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission ( JNNRUM) and were meant to provide easy and affordable transportation to a citizenry harassed and taken undue advantage of by private transport operators. Alas! In just under one year these buses have been grounded and due for repairs. And it seems there’s no money for repairs. Anyone who owns a vehicle knows that regular maintenance is imperative. But these buses have been run without the regular check ups.
Initially the buses were run by the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) an entity not known to operate any single project profitably. Without any system of accountability in place those running the affairs of the MTC will get away with squandering public assets yet again! It is no secret that the very people involved in running the buses are themselves guilty of pilfering not just the accruals from passengers but also in stealing spare parts. This happened in the past with the MTC owned and operated buses. The command and control system operating in private, profit-making organisations is conspicuous by its absence. The MTC is run like a fiefdom feeding political leeches and bureaucrats. It is better wound up like other loss making corporations because repeated infusion of funds into a dead unit is bad business management. Good money cannot be made to chase after bad money.
Some of the buses are also operated by self help group (SHGs). Public transport systems need to be run on a pure business model. Since when have NGOs entered the business sector and do they know how to run profit making enterprises? Without profits how do they maintain and run the buses? Why should Government run a transport business on charity mode? Granted that this is the era of private-public- partnership, but no partnership can work without a revenue model. This revenue model should have been vetted and test-checked by the MUDA before letting out the buses and strict compliances should have been worked out with the private parties. But there must have been compromises even here with political favourites winning the bids for running the buses. This is no way to run a public service utility. The public should seek accountability and do that urgently.