Aurangabad: Come Independence Day, the much-talked city bus service plan will miss yet another extended deadline.The elected representatives are now asking for three more months to start the service as part of the Smart City Mission. While technical issues associated with the tendering process for bus procurement has been cited as a reason behind the delay, citizens have expressed displeasure over the time-consuming process of setting up an effective transportation for the city.Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) had invited request for proposals for design, manufacture, supply and commissioning of 100 non-AC diesel-run buses on June 4 followed by which pre-bid meeting was held on June 13.Despite a lapse of around two months, no work order has been placed for actual procurement till date. Mayor Nandkumar Ghodele said the tendering process for procurement of buses did not evoke desired response, resulting into delay in starting of city bus service.“The pre-bid meeting saw participation of some of the leading bus manufactures in the country. However, in actual only one company came forward when tender was opened. We had to recall the bid thrice as per laid down norms and this took lot of time. After re-bidding also we have received response from the same company and it will get the work-order in a week or so,” he said.“A total of 100 buses would be purchased in a phased manner. We are more than confident that city buses will hit the road within the next three months. We anticipate no further lapse of deadline,” the mayor added.Before the announcement of August 15, Ghodele and his team of Shiv Sena leaders had set January 23 (birth anniversary of Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray) as the deadline for starting the city bus service. But the deadline could not be met.The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had its own city bus service more than a decade ago and it was operated with the help of private firm with a fleet of nearly 70 buses.The bus service gradually started incurred losses and was finally shelved after becoming economically non-viable in 2010. Since then, the MSRTC has been offering make-shift public transport to the city and some of the fringe areas by running a small fleet of buses.

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