Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 5 November 2021
Several buses procured from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is rotting away parked at different places in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These buses were donated by the Member of Parliament to various Gram Panchayats and Panchayat Samitis across Andaman and Nicobar Islands for the benefit of the general public.
Many of these buses have been parked for a long time and are not operational. It is also being reported that many panchayats are also not taking any steps for the upkeep of these buses and because of which a huge loss is being incurred to the Govt. exchequer.
These buses were procured from the public money and ought to have been utilised for providing services to the general public of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but instead, most of these buses are not being used at all.
In remote areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands like Campbell Bay the condition of the buses operated by the State Transport Department are very poor and these buses procured under MPLADS could have been utilised for providing services to the general public, but for unknown reasons these buses are gathering dust parked in different places.
According to one Ex-PRI of Campbell Bay, once a meeting was conducted locally and it was decided to hand over these buses to the State Transport Department for utilising it to provide services to the residents, but STS refused to take over the buses sighting non-availability of spare parts.
Unfortunately, these buses are lying around at different places rotting without being used and the administration seems to have forgotten about it.
Crores of Rupees have been spent in the procurement of these buses.
Responsibility should be fixed by the Administration for the non-utilisation of these buses which are rotting away at various places.
These buses should be repaired and pressed into service so that the general public can benefit from the public money spent on their procurement.