SHILLONG, Nov 1 - Urban Affairs Minister Ronnie V Lyngdoh today blamed a former bureaucrat for acting arbitrarily resulting in the present mess with the functioning of the Shillong Public Transport Service (SPTS.)
Lashing out at former Additional Chief Secretary Prashant Naik, who was in-charge of Urban Affairs, the Minister said, the bureaucrat acted arbitrarily and allotted the buses under SPTS to NGOs.
�There were no meetings and no consultations held and Naik allotted the buses and maxi cabs to NGOs. He did not consult the Special Purpose Vehicle formed to look after the smooth functioning of the buses,� the Minister asserted.
The SPTS buses and maxi cabs were hailed by the public when it was first flagged off in 2011 in the State Capital. Before that the local taxis and stray private buses literally held the public hostage with their whimsical tariff and poor services in the State Capital.
These vehicles were allotted by the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Meghalaya received 120 buses in 2011.
The allotment was the highest amongst hill States in the region back then. A total of 240 buses have been sanctioned by the Central government to the State.
