On Sunday, the day before the phasing out of Bluelines, the Delhi Transport Minister Rajendra Gupta held talks with Ramesh Dalal president of STA Nyay Panchayat, the Blueline bus union, in an effort to bargain the phase-out.

``The union president said that all the operators are ready to come under the DTC as per our wishes. They only requested that DTC bus pass-holders should not be allowed on these buses. I assured them that I will consider the request. We will hold talks tomorrow,'' Gupta said.

Giving details of the `dialogue' with the transport minister, Ramesh Dalal said, ``There may be some headway in the impasse as the transport minister this evening has agreed to discuss the issue of allowing DTC bus passes on Bluelines.'' Permits of about 3,800 Bluelines will expire tomorrow.

Bus passes have been an issue of contention between the Government and the bus operators, with the latter refusing to take passengers with DTC passes and the former insisting on it.

According to the Government's scheme once the Bluelines are phased out on July 16, they can come back on roads only under the DTC. And when they do so, these buses have to accept the passes which are issued by the DTC. So far, Bluelines have not been accepting these passes claiming that they cannot incur losses for the benefit of DTC.

With just a day to go for the proposed phase-out of the Bluelines, the bargaining on the terms has intensified. ``We have three amendments for the three options quoted by the Government,'' Ramesh Dalal said. ``The first option is that the Bluelines should come under the km-scheme where the DTC pays Rs 10 per kilometre to the bus operators. However, the union wants the rate to be hiked to Rs 15.''

``The second option was to form cooperatives of 50 buses. Our amendment is we will form cooperatives which are route-wise, where the bus owner would also retain the right of ownership.''

``The third option of the Government was that of `earn-and-keep' scheme in which the bus operators have to pay the DTC Rs 3,000 per month. We do not agree to this unless the money is decreased to Rs 500.''

Saying that if the Transport Minister does not budge from his stand he would be himself ``giving the call for a strike'', Dalal said, ``The Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma should intervene and solve the problem himself.''

Commenting on the preparedness of the Government to deal with the shortage of 3,800 buses from tomorrow midnight, Dalal said, ``Contract carriages will not run because they are also part of the union. As for using the railway, it will never work out as a passenger would have no way of commuting to and from railway stations.''