‘Raj sent reminders to UP for bus fare’

Neha.Shukla@timesgroup.com

Lucknow  23.05.2020

: In the ongoing feud between Congress and UP government over buses, deputy CM Dinesh Shama fired a fresh salvo on Friday, alleging that the Congressruled Rajasthan had kept sending them reminders for the Rs 36 lakh bill. Sharma said UP government cleared all the bills on May 20.

Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSTRC) had sent Rs 36 lakh bill to the UP government for transporting students from Kota to UP last month. In addition to the bus fare, it had also raised a bill of Rs 19.7 lakh for fuelling UPSRTC buses.

RSTRC sent letters on April 27 and April 28 seeking the bill amount and then a reminder on May 8, said Sharma. In April, UP government had decided to bring home students stuck in Kota due to the lockdown. It had assessed that 10,000 students were stranded, but the figure turned out to be 12,000 instead.

UP had then sought Rajasthan government’s help. “We were asked to make a written request and also pay the fare by RSTRC,” said Sharma.

UPSRTC managing director Raj Shekhar then wrote to his counterpart in Rajasthan government, asking for 94 RSTRC 94 buses. RSTRC buses then dropped Kota students at Fatehpur Sikri, from where they were brought home. Sharma said many buses were old and had no fuel. Over 560 buses were deployed to bring students back from Kota. RSTRC also provided fuel to about 320 UPSRTC buses for which it charged more than Rs 19 lakh. Minister of state for transport (independent charge) Ashok Kataria said the Kota episode has only exposed the Congress.