By IANS,
New Delhi: The Delhi government Thursday told Delhi High Court that it will increase its fleet of 6,500 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses by 4,000 to meet the requirement of commuters in the wake of the phaseout of Blueline buses.
Appearing before the division bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Suresh Kait, standing counsel Najmi Waziri said the Delhi government was concerned about public safety and that Blueline buses must be phased out from the national capital as they were a threat to commuters.
He said DTC will add 4,000 buses to its fleet in a phased manner.
However, Blueline bus operators argued that they be allowed to ply on the roads till the cluster system was implemented. They also sought participation in the allotment of clusters.
The court deferred hearing till Friday.
The Delhi government Dec 27, 2010 announced that more than 1,200 Blueline buses will be phased out from the capital’s roads by the end of the year, and that private low-floor buses will be introduced in several clusters to replace them.
The city has so far cleared five clusters, a system under which the over 600 routes in the city have been divided among 17 clusters.
The privately-owned and run Blueline buses, blamed for hundreds of deaths on city roads, are scheduled to be phased out by Jan 31.