New Delhi: Under attack for a spate of fire related incidents in low-floor DTC buses, Delhi Government on Tuesday countered the claim by the Tata Motors, supplier of the vehicles, that bad road condition was the reason behind the mishaps.
Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, while rejecting Tata Motors' explanation, said the roads in national capital are among the best in the country and the argument given by the auto maker was not acceptable.
"This argument is not acceptable. If Mercedes Benz and other sensitive cars can ply on Delhi roads then why not these buses. Do they manufacture these buses for European roads only," Lovely said, blaming poor maintenance of the new fleet by the company for the mishaps.
In the eighth such incident in 25 days, a low-floor DTC bus supplied by the Tata Motors caught fire yesterday in South Delhi but no one was injured in the incident.
Lovely said following the media reports, he had sought a reply from the company asking whether it had blamed the poor road condition for the mishaps and in their reply the auto giant denied mentioning about the road conditions for the incidents.
However, in a press release issued on December 15, the company said "Tata Motors seeks support from DTC that routes are monitored and so determined that the buses are plied on roads which are appropriate for such ultra low-floor vehicles."
Asked about increasing incidents of the low floor buses catching fire, Lovely said the government was taking all possible steps to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.
"However, technical problems will take place in such a large fleet. It is not unusual. If you are running 1,000 buses then there may be some sort of technical problem in one or two buses," he said.
The Delhi government has already instituted a high-level inquiry into the incidents.
The government had earlier imposed a hefty fine of Rs four crore on Tata Motors for "not properly" maintaining the low-floor buses it manufactured. It had also decided to withhold a payment of Rs 150 crore to the Tatas and warned of legal action if corrective steps were not taken by the automobile giant.
As per the contract, Tata Motors is responsible for maintenance of the bus fleet supplied. Tata Motors has so far provided nearly 800 low-floor buses to the city government.
Lovely said the Government was in process of appointing another technical committee to oversee maintenance of the buses.
He said the number of maintenance staff in the depots have been increased to ensure better maintenance of the bus fleet.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 23:44