Parramatta‑Harris Park shuttle sparks community controversy

Tensions flared at a western Sydney council meeting on Monday night after a new business group representing a popular Indian eat street in Harris Park received a $45,000 state government grant to run a shuttle bus between Parramatta and the restaurant strip.

Members of Little India NSW sought the City of Parramatta council’s support to change parking rules in the area to allow its new bus to pull up to a string of venues on the main dining strip. But there are four organisations all claiming to represent the area – and all wanting different things.

The original group is the Little India Harris Park Business Association, set up by visa agent Sanjay Deshwal before fellow members accused him of using government grants to pay an employee in his own company and later kicked him out. He denied the allegations and sued those members in the Supreme Court, while also setting up a rival group called the Little India Harris Park Business Precinct.

Those remaining were unable to use the association name while the matter was before court, and set up a new group called Little India NSW. This group won a Community Building Partnership grant last year for an application called “Harris Park Green Shuttle: Solving Parking Challenges Sustainably”.

Also in dispute is whether the bus in question aligned with the original grant application.

Little India NSW president Nitin Setia said: “We earlier wanted to have an electric bus, and the electric bus cost roughly $90,000. So that’s why we asked government … if they can give us $90,000 just to start the bus. But the NSW government only had $45,000.”

Councillors on Monday approved a motion to consider options to help free shuttle services generally in the area and to investigate whether loading zones could be used as drop-off points in the evenings.

But Deshwal, who has complained to the Department of Communities and Justice about the grant given to his former colleagues, said the change from an electric to diesel bus raised a “fundamental question” about what the money was actually for.

“How was the effectiveness and value for money of the $45,000 grant intended to be measured?” he wrote in an email. “What measurable public benefit has been delivered for approximately $45,000 of NSW taxpayer funds?”

The bus was launched by state member for Parramatta Donna Davis and Labor councillor Michael Ng in early August. It runs from 6pm to 10pm from Thursday to Sunday but there is scant information about its route or departure times online.

Asked why there was nothing advertising the bus, Little India NSW’s public officer Subba Rao Varigonda said: “There is a big plan to have digital marketing for this bus. So it is about to start right now. Obviously it requires a bit of money.”

He said the group would soon add a GPS signal and people counter to the bus.

Patricia Prociv, a Labor councillor whose ward represents Harris Park, said the business community there was “the most divisive community I have ever represented” and Little India NSW was the only one to try to find a solution to the lack of parking in the suburb.

“Everybody wants to tear into everybody else and tear everyone down,” she said. “People, start being nice to each other. Play nicely.”

A NSW government spokesperson said the project’s goal was to “improve accessibility for visitors, especially seniors, to reduce walking fatigue, reduce parking demand, enhance community participation and boost local business footfall”.

The Community Building Partnership team approved Little India NSW’s request to move from a green shuttle to a diesel vehicle, the spokesperson said.

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