The UP assembly elections have brought a windfall of over Rs 500 cr  to UPSRTC

By VIRENDRA SINGH RAWAT

LUCKNOW, Jan 27 (The CONNECT) - The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections have brought a windfall of over Rs 500 crore to the beleaguered state bus fleet facing pandemic blues.

The government has requisitioned more than 4,000 buses from the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) fleet to ferry security personnel deployed for election duty across the state.

According to sources, the Corporation has estimated to rake in at least Rs 500 crore in rental charges for the supply of buses to the government/election commission.

While the UPSRTC has a fleet of more than 11,000 buses, the Corporation of late has been witnessing sub-optimal revenues owing to the third wave of pandemic apart from the recent severe cold wave sweeping across the state.

Since the UPSRTC buses are wide bodied vehicles, they were preferred by the security wings for the comfortable movement of the forces across the state during the different phases of the UP elections.

The UPSRTC has constituted a special cell at the headquarters level to monitor the deployment of buses on such a large scale for the election duty.

Even as more than 500 buses have already been released for election duty to ferry the security forces, about 1,500 additional buses are expected to be deployed by next week. The remaining buses would be deployed as elections progress in subsequent phases.

UP assembly elections would be held in seven rounds in Feb and March 2022 viz. Feb 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), there are more than 150 million registered voters in UP.