Guwahati, Feb. 19: Hiring of unqualified personnel and the involvement of a section of employees in stealing tyres and other motor parts of buses are ailing the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC).

"These are some of the reasons due to which the corporation suffered a loss of Rs 700 crore since its inception in 1970 and around 700 buses are in the garage for repairs," a source in the corporation said.

He said only yesterday ASTC managing director A.P. Tiwari ordered an inquiry into the appointment of two foremen by his predecessor, K. N. Chetia.

"During verification, it has come to light that two trainee foremen, Tridip Deka and Hridip Deka, were appointed in Golaghat and Jorhat respectively without having degrees/diplomas in the particular trade for which they were hired," the source said.

He said Tiwari has asked his technical adviser, Asif Ahmed, to inquire how these two persons were appointed foremen though they do not have any automobile degree or diploma.

Ahmed has been asked to conduct the inquiry and submit the report within 30 days.

The source said the duo had done diploma courses in instrumentation engineering.

"Due to such anomalies, maintenance and repair of the corporation's buses are suffering," he said.

Tiwari has also ordered that the duo be released from the ASTC with immediate effect.

He added that during a recent inspection of the ASTC maintenance centre in Tinsukia, it was found that though 48 tyres were sent from the headquarters, only 37 tyres were shown to have been received by assistant engineer Lakhanta Sensowa.

"The inspection team found that bus number AS-20/1441 was shown to one of the buses that got new tyres, but actually the bus was running with old tyres," he said.

During the inspection, several other irregularities, including anomalies in inventory management, came to light and Sensowa and Rupjyoti Borah, a trainee foreman, were suspended by Tiwari, who also ordered an inquiry against them.

After coming to power in May last year, the BJP-led government in Assam has given priority to revive the ASTC and disciplinary action was initiated against many employees to curb corruption.

Recently, Assam transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary had said because of corruption, the financial condition of the corporation was in bad shape and around 700 buses were in garages for repairs.

"In the past, there were instances of some corrupt employees selling tyres, batteries and other parts of the buses. We are now trying to set things in order," Patowary had said.