New Delhi: The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of running a “transport scam” by forcing auto and taxi drivers to pay bribes to obtain vehicle fitness certificates.
Addressing a press conference Friday, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva accused Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of using a Delhi-based NGO, Manas Foundation, for this purpose.
Vehicle fitness certificates are government documents that certify a vehicle is fit for use. The Delhi government made them mandatory in 2022, announcing a fine up to Rs 10,000 for non-compliance.
“The Kejriwal government has linked the driver training programme with the fitness certificate and now every driver is required to attend a three-hour training class organised by Manas Foundation, an NGO connected with Kejriwal and Kailash Gahlot, before getting their vehicle certificate,” Sachdeva said at the press conference.
“There is also just one fitness centre in the whole of Delhi, in Burari, where auto drivers have to go to obtain their fitness certificate. About 1,500 to 2,000 drivers visit the centre everyday, but only about 400-500 certificates are issued”, he said, adding that drivers are made to pay up to Rs 1,500 if they want to expedite the process.
Sachdeva also claimed to be in possession of a fitness certificate that, he said, was issued in the name of a deceased auto driver. In this case, he alleged, the driver had died in 2017 but that fitness certificates were issued in his name to various auto drivers. He said he would take his “evidence” to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor V.K Saxena.
ThePrint reached Gahlot and Kejriwal via phone calls for their comment on the allegations but did not receive a response at the time of publishing this report. This report will be updated if and when they respond.
Manas Foundation, however, denied the allegations. The founding trustee Monica Kumar told ThePrint that there was no political involvement in the organisation.
“It is not funded by anyone, and we do not take any money from the auto drivers, neither are we paid by the government. We do it completely free of cost because it’s for a cause,” said Kumar.
The allegations come at a time when two former leaders of Kejriwal’s cabinet — Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain — are already facing corruption allegations.
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What is Manas Foundation
Founded in 2000, Manas Foundation works on the issues of mental health and gender justice, according to its website.
Listed among its partners are UNICEF, the Ford Foundation and the public sector natural gas distribution company Indraprastha Gas Limited.
The foundation provides a two-to three-hour interactive training on gender and gender-based violence to all public transport drivers. The sign-up for this programme is linked with their license renewal or vehicle fitness process and is mandatory, the website says.
Monica Kumar told ThePrint that these gender sensitisation programmes were started when Nirbhaya rape tragedy happened in 2012. But it was the 2014 rape of a woman by an Uber driver in the national capital that made the Delhi government and bureaucrats see some real value in the programme, she said.
“The reason it was linked with the vehicle fitness certificate and license is so that these drivers can come together in one classroom because they are private players and not linked with a government body like Delhi Transport Corporation,” said Kumar.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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