Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Transport Minister Parvez Hashmi met the DTC chairman-cum-managing director G.S. Cheema today to discuss the matter.

In the meeting, it was decided that the DTC will go in for route rationalisation to recover its losses. Under the present scheme, the buses of each route must run 225 km irrespective of demand and profit. As an initial step, a high-level expert committee will be set up to re-evaluate the routes. The buses will also run more frequently during peak hours to cater to public demand, while late evening and night services will be reduced.

The DTC tariff rates are also likely to be rationalised, taking the tariff rates of the Bombay Electricity Suburban Transport (BEST) as the reference point. Compared to BEST, the DTC's tickets cost less per km and its maximum ticket prices are very low, which has been eating into overall revenues.

Under the original DTC plan, the state transport system was to have at least 10,000 buses by 2001. The DTC, however, is plying only 3,000 buses today -- 2,300 running within the city and 700 on the inter-state circuit. The Delhi government plans to increase the DTC fleet by inducting the EURO-I diesel vehicle. This will help revamp the DTC's diesel fleet in the city which has dwindled after the Supreme Court order to phase out diesel vehicles more than eight years old.

The Chief Minister was also apprised of the DTC's huge debt, created by the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. Of the total Rs 137 crore that the DTC has outstanding, Rs 80 crore is due to the Commission's recommendations concerning staff dearness allowance and arrears. And employees Provident Fund and pension dues constitute another Rs 32.84 crore outstanding.