The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and attended by Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami, Chief Secretary P K Tripathi, Transport Commissioner Rajinder Kumar and other senior officials.
Dikshit also held a meeting with her cabinet colleagues in the morning and discussed the overall situation arising out of the December 16 gangrape incident and subsequent violent protests.
At her meeting with the Transport Minister and officials, she instructed them to improve the overall services of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), which operates a fleet of around 6,000 buses which include 4,000 low-floor buses.
Directing the Transport Department to ensure security and safety, the Chief Minister said that DTC would now ply 85 buses instead of 42 under its night service to enable the passengers to travel across the city.
"The routes would probably touch all important junctions in the city. To ensure safety and security of passengers during night, Home Guards would be deployed in the buses. The Department may also consider deployment of Home Guards in DTC buses during evening hours at a later stage," Dikshit said.
The new measures came against the backdrop of the gangrape and brutal assault of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus, an illegal chartered bus, in south Delhi. The incident raised a hue and cry for improved public transport system during night hours.
On Grameen Sewa and auto rikshaws, Dikshit said a large number of complaints have been pouring in stating violation of routes, overcrowding, overcharging and denial to ply as per the need of passengers. (More)
