Delhi, UP end dispute over plying of buses

New Delhi, Jun 2: In a major reprieve for daily commuters travelling between Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the long-standing dispute between the two states over plying of buses ended today with the two governments signing a draft agreement here.

With the signing of the draft agreement, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) will be allowed to run buses in Noida and other areas of National Capital Region (NCR) within Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) will be allowed to run buses up to seven points in Delhi.

As soon as the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government came to power in Uttar Pradesh last year, the two governments had softened their respective stand on the issue. UP had started 'informally' to ply buses to Delhi. With the signing of the draft agreement, the arrangement has been formalised.

The agreement was signed by officials of the two neighbouring states in the presence of their respective Transport ministers -- Ramachal Rajbhar (UP) and Haroon Yusuf (Delhi).

Several rounds of talks between UPSTRC and DTC yielded no results in the recent past as officials had failed to thrash out differences on key issues.

The last agreement betwen the two states was signed on December 31, 1985. But it was anulled by UP in the year 2000.

UNI