‘Centre examining site change for Millennium Depot’

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) on Monday informed the Delhi high court that the Union government was examining the issue of changing the land of the site where the Millennium Bus Depot is located to make it a permanent hub for its buses.

The depot is located on the Yamuna flood plains along the Nizamuddin bridge.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had recently told the court that the change in the land use was not possible as the National Green Tribunal had prohibited constructions in areas demarcated as zone ‘O’ and the site of the depot is in such a zone.

Also, the DTC had not obtained No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Urban Development or from the Land and Development Office regarding the ownership of the land on which the depot is located, the DDA submitted before the Court.

The DTC informed the court that the Union government had sought additional information on the issue after the Delhi transport minister called on the Union urban development minister.

Since the Union urban development ministry was seized of the matter, the somersault taken by DDA apparently was contrary to its instructions, DTC said in its affidavit and sought six more months to approach DDA for changing the land use.

The court later listed the matter on October 12 for further hearing. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had last year decided to dismantle the depot and shift it to another place in deference to the plea by environmentalists that concrete construction on the river bed was completely banned.

However, it later changed its stand and has now sought <g data-gr-id="29">change</g> of the land use so that the depot can continue there. The government argues that as it wants to buy more buses and its other depots in the city are full, therefore, it requires the depot on the river bed.

The depot was built for a temporary period by the Sheila Dikshit-government at a cost of Rs 60 crore ahead of the Commonwealth Games, 2010, for parking DTC buses.