VADODARA: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC)
opposition has raised the issue of the contract for the city bus
service being awarded without any bids to the existing operator with a
minor rise in the annual premium.

The operator Vitcos Pvt Ltd
has been operating the bus service since five years after it got the
contract in 2008. It earlier paid Rs 18.55 lakh as annual premium that
is proposed to be revised to Rs 19.62 lakh. But the operator has shot a
letter to the VMC demanding that the premium be done away with. It has
also given a list of demands that it wants to be fulfilled before
starting the service again.

Opposition leader and Congress
councillor Chandrakant Shrivastava said that the civic body should not
bow down to such tactics. Shrivastava demanded that fresh bids should be
invited for the service. This, he said, would bring competition and the
VMC would not have to budge under pressure.

At
the other end, sources said that there were few operators who were
willing to run such services. “Nobody came forward for the service in
Rajkot and eventually Vitcos was given the task there. Even it had to
wind up the service as it was unviable within two months of
commencement. Surat Municipal Corporation
(SMC) is struggling to find a contractor to run the service there. It
has reduced the premium and deposit amounts drastically to find one,”
said the official.