Delhi BJP on Friday expressed concerns over the recent public transport policy by the AAP led Delhi Government pertaining to the proposal of Premium Aggregated Bus Service in the national Capital which is a step towards privatisation of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

Former Delhi BJP President and party’s MLA Vijender Gupta said the current policies have been formulated with malafide intentions, favouring private bus operators at the cost of the state's primary public transport service, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

Drawing attention to his efforts back in 2016, Gupta in a statement said that he had had lodged a complaint due to the fact that the policy was introduced without the requisite enabling provisions in the Motor Vehicles Act.

“The zeal with which the Kejriwal Government is pushing for the rollout of this policy suggests possible vested interests," Gupta charged.

Elaborating on the current state of affairs of DTC, Gupta lamented the neglect it has suffered over the years, with the fleet largely comprising buses that are over 15 years old and in a deteriorating condition, rendering them unfit for daily operations.

He compared this with the luxury premium buses being promoted, which, are not meant to cater to the needs of the common man in Delhi.

“This is underscored by the ` 2500 crore annual loss borne by DTC”, he said.

Gupta also emphasised that during his tenure as the leader of the opposition in 2016, he had raised concerns about irregularities favouring a particular aggregator.

This policy, he said, was subsequently retracted due to fears of repercussions for its wrongdoings.

Drawing a parallel, Gupta pointed out the AAP Government's approach to the liquor policy, which was similarly withdrawn after irregularities were exposed.

"We've observed this pattern before: introduce a policy and backtrack when potential malpractices emerge," he commented.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said that the announcement of Premium Aggregated Bus Service is a proof of Arvind Kejriwal's misintention to privatise the public services and it stands established that the Chief Minister has wilfully failed destroyed Delhi Transport Corporation.

Sachdeva said ever since coming to power in 2015 Arvind Kejriwal has been trying to privatise the public transport system of Delhi.

In 2016 itself Kejriwal Government had brought the Premium Aggregated Bus Service proposal which was tailor made to suit a Gurgaon based aggregator.

The matter was then strongly opposed by Delhi BJP as no terms & condition of the proposal were cleared.