SPTS row: Former bureaucrat puts onus on SPV
SHILLONG: Former principal secretary of the Urban Affairs Department P. Naik on Wednesday rebutted the claims of Ronnie V. Lyngdoh and threatened to file a defamation case against the minister.
The Urban Affairs minister had on Tuesday blamed Naik for the mismanagement and pathetic condition of the buses.
Speaking to The Shillong Times here on Wednesday, the former bureaucrat said the operation and management of SPTS buses were decided through a special purpose vehicle, which included other departments like transport and traffic, and not “arbitrarily” as claimed by Lyngdoh.
Naik said Lyngdoh’s allegations were based on “perceptions and fictions”, and that he would soon file a defamation suit against Lyngdoh.
“I would not like to comment anything on late Minister FS Cajee as it is not appropriate,” he said and added that the government has all records of the SPV.
According to Naik, the department had initially called a tender for the operation of the buses. Since there was no response from any bidder, the government decided to hand over the buses to Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC).
Pointing out the loopholes in the functioning of MTC, Naik said there was a huge gap as far as revenue sharing was concerned even though MTC and the Urban Affairs operated on a ratio of 70:30.
“Out of 50 buses, which were given to MTC, 23 need major repair and seven will have to be auctioned,” he said and added that an estimate of around Rs 1 lakh is required for the repairing of each of those buses.
Lyngdoh on Tuesday had questioned the decision to prefer private entities to a government one in managing the buses. To this, Naik clarified on Wednesday that there was no such policy that stated that buses have to be given to PSUs. “The government had one motive and that was to sustain the bus services for the benefit of the people.”
Many of the buses which were handed back to Meghalaya Urban Development Agency (MUDA) were in a shambles, Naik said. The retired bureaucrat further said it was the responsibility of MUDA, which is headed by the minister as executive chairman, to look after the management of the buses and issues like revenue generation, complaint and cleanliness.