Date:01/03/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/03/01/stories/2005030114960300.htm

New Delhi

More seats for senior citizens in buses

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 28. The Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, today passed an order reserving two seats for senior citizens in all public transport buses in the Capital. These seats would be situated between the seats reserved for handicapped persons and women.

Speaking at the presentation of the Golden Certificates to Delhi Transport Corporation employees at the Delhi Secretariat, Ms Dikshit lauded the initiatives taken by the Corporation to come out of the red and said while public bus transport has always been viewed as a loss making sector, it was good that efforts have led to positive results. Distributing awards to the managers of various DTC depots, with whom a memorandum of understanding had been signed for improving the physical and financial performance of the Corporation, the Chief Minister hoped that the trend would continue.

The gathering was informed that the comprehensive strategy to enhance performance had laid stress on operational efficiency, cost consciousness adoption of new management practices and introduction of motivation and discipline measures and customer orientation as means of achieving the desired goals. To this end, each depot was treated as a cost-profit sector and an internal MoU was signed between the individual unit heads or depot manager of the 28 depots and the DTC management in November 2004.