By IANS,
New Delhi: The Delhi government has fined Tata Motors Rs.4 crore for failing to ensure proper maintenance of its low-floor buses and directed the firm to undertake a comprehensive check-up of 950 low-floor buses by January 2010.
“Of Rs.10 crore (Rs.100 million) which was to be paid to Tata Motors as annual maintenance charge for the low-floor buses, we have stopped payment of Rs.4 crore (40 million) as penalty,” said Delhi government’s Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely in Delhi Assembly here Monday while replying to a call attention motion by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V.K. Malhotra who alleged a scam in the purchase of the low-floor buses.
The Delhi government aims to phase out Blueline buses by March 2010. It has also announced commissioning of around 3,500 low-floor buses before the Commonwealth Games next year.
However, several of these buses have caught fire in the last few months. On Saturday, two low-floor buses of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) running on compressed natural gas (CNG) caught fire in separate incidents. No one was injured.
On demand of action against the erring company, Lovely said the government would not shy away from taking action.
“I will not tolerate carelessness from the company. We are not favouring any company. If required, we will not back out from taking action against the company under criminal proceedings,” Lovely said.
He informed the house that the government has also stopped a payment of Rs.150 crore (Rs.1.5 billion) to Tata Motors which was to be paid for buying 321 low-floor buses.
The BJP leaders, however, demanded that the government should maintain complete transparency in the matter and should keep the house informed.
Later in the evening, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit held a high-level meeting to discuss the issue. The meeting was attended by Lovely, senior DTC officials and senior officers from Tata Motors.
“It was decided to have a proper coordination and regular interactions between the DTC and Tata Motors as safety is more important while ensuring a reliable public transport system in the capital city,” stated Dikshit while briefing reporters after the meeting.
“Tata Motors was apprised of the minor deficiencies which have been observed by the DTC during the last few weeks,” said an official statement here.
Dikshit stated that the DTC will ensure that only those buses will be brought on the roads which are found perfect in all respects at the time of morning inspection at various bus depots.
“Tata Motors have been told in plain words to undertake a comprehensive check-up of 950 buses by January 2010. The comprehensive check-up will include each and every vital part of the CNG bus. The check-up will continue on a regular interval to satisfy all the norms of safety. The Tatas have further been told to be more cautious and revise their time schedule for general checks,” the statement added.