Chalo Mobility Payment Hike Under Scrutiny as Nagpur Municipal Corporation Launches Probe Nagpur: Following allegations of increased payments to Chalo Mobility Pvt Ltd under the Aapli Bus contract, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s transport committee chairperson, Mangala Khekre, announced on Tuesday that an investigation into the matter would be initiated. Khekre cited the expansion of the Aapli Bus fleet and the rise in the number of conductors as reasons for the payment hike, though she did not confirm whether the transport department had secured approval from the competent authority before exceeding the original contract terms. The NMC issued a work order to Chalo Mobility on March 11, 2024, and finalized a five-year contract worth Rs216.30 crore on July 11, 2024. Initially, the company was required to deploy approximately 1,000 conductors at a rate of Rs479 per conductor. However, with the fleet expanding from around 500 buses to nearly 725, the number of conductors increased to about 1,800, and the per-conductor rate rose to Rs509. This led to a monthly payment increase from Rs1.88 crore to Rs2.79 crore, or Rs3.26 crore including GST. Khekre stated she would seek clarification from the department on whether the necessary approvals were obtained, while asserting that there was no breach of the contractual agreement. A special audit, proposed by the transport department, will examine whether the enhanced payments had the required approvals and adhered to the terms of the contract. The audit aims to determine if the adjustments were justified and whether they complied with the original agreement’s stipulations. The probe comes amid growing scrutiny over the financial terms of the Aapli Bus project, which has been a subject of public debate.#nagpur_municipal_corporation #nmc #mangala_khekre #aapli_bus #chalo_mobility_pvt_ltd
