The efforts of the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee ( JNAC) to revive the city bus service received a major jolt as not a single private party responded to the tender. The tender was for outsourcing the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)-sponsored city bus service.
Sources in JNAC said that April 4 was the last date for submission of application forms and that on Tuesday the civic body was supposed to take a decision for finalising a private party, to whom the bus service could be outsourced.
Vinod Kumar, a senior official of JNAC who is looking after the issue said , “As no one turned up to take over the bus service we will have to go for a re-tendering process. Before re-tender we will seek advise of the urban development department,” Kumar said, adding that this time they will go for a short-tender wherein the process of submission of application and selection will be completed within 8-10 days.
The civic body had issued 13-point terms and conditions which the outsourced agency has to follow if it was interested in taking over the ailing bus service. The terms and conditions stated that the agency would be appointed for a period of 11 months after which depending on the performance its contract will be liable for renewal.
Meanwhile, sources at the Baridih bus depot, where the fleet of 50-defunct buses are undergoing necessary repairing and maintenance job revealed that so far engines have been replaced for 30 buses. “We have also changed the lubricant oil and filter of those 30 buses which will now undergo necessary denting and painting work. The buses will be given a fresh coat of paint,” said a worker engaged in the repairing work.
The State Urban Development department had recently sanctioned Rs66 lakh to the JNAC so that it can undertake the repairing and maintenance job of the defunct buses.
The urban civic body had engaged, a local automobile firm — Vishal Trading — to overhaul the rickety buses and make them fit so that the bus service could be resumed, at the earliest.