Govt to move SC for total Blueline exit
The Delhi government will move the Supreme Court for cancellation of permits of the 300 Blueline buses which are still plying on city roads. The decision has been taken in the wake of death of a man and 12 others sustaining injuries near ISBT Kashmere Gate by a Blueline bus early Sunday morning.
“We will approach the apex court to remove all the Blueline buses from the city roads at the earliest. First, we will appeal for the cancellation of the permits of the remaining Blueline buses as their permits allow them to ply till 2012,” Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said on Monday.
Under a phaseout plan, nearly 1,900 Blueline buses, which had gained notoriety in the city over the years for their involvement in frequent fatal mishaps, have been taken off roads after the city government refused to extend their permits.
But around 300 buses were allowed to run after they moved the court arguing that their permits will expire in the middle of next year and they be allowed to ply till then.
The Delhi government has been trying to modernise the public transport system in the city and has procured around 4,000 low-floor buses, including air-conditioned ones.
To replace the Blueline fleet, the government had last year announced an ambitious cluster bus service scheme on the pattern of cities like Paris and London.
The first cluster bus service was launched in the city last week.
The Delhi government had in 2009 divided nearly 650 bus routes across the city into 17 clusters, each comprising profitable and non-profitable routes and decided to give each cluster to a private operator.
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