Wednesday, December 11, 2024
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Public resource, private profit

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The Government of Meghalaya will be scrapping 50 out of the 120 buses sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). These buses have been of great help to commuters within Shillong city and its suburbs. Taking away 50 vehicles off the road, means that some destinations would no longer be served, unless, these 50 are replaced by newer vehicles. But more importantly it is important to scrutinize the terms under which the buses were let out to private operators by the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA). From what is observed, the buses are ill-maintained and decrepit; they are parked anywhere during the night and no one cares about their road- worthiness. If the private operators are paying MUDA regularly and at the contracted price then why is MUDA not  maintaining these public carriers? Some of the buses were launched in 2011 but many were pressed into service some years later hence they are not more than seven years old. Yet 50 buses have to be condemned!  Many of them might be sold as scrap. Recently the NITI Ayog had stated that only vehicles that are 15 years old may be scrapped in the interest of reducing pollution. By then most vehicles would have served their purpose and if they are privately run would have broken even.

The problem with public-private partnerships is that the contracts always favour the private party. The contractors running these buses must have made their profits without any responsibility of maintaining them. Whichever way we look at this arrangement it is a flawed one. Government’s contention is that it is not meant to do business hence the most viable option is to outsource the buses to private parties. Indeed, there are examples galore of how the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) has all but collapsed and how its fleet of buses are now reduced to a few long distance ones because the manpower requirement per bus is much higher than that required by private operators. However, outsourcing a service does not mean that the private party should be the sole beneficiary of the transaction. The terms of the agreement should be mutually beneficial. In the case of the Shillong Public Transport Service (SPTS) buses and also the Maxi taxis they are all in a run-down condition. The MDA Government needs to revoke all the contracts and call for a transparent and open tendering process henceforth.

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