Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Chief Traffic Manager (Commercial) of BMTC, Mr Prabhu Das said: “We are unable to induct ordinary buses into our fleet because our suppliers, TATA and Leyland, are facing a technology glitch. Euro-4 technology for ordinary buses is still not developed in India. A tender was floated a few months ago to induct 600 buses and the tender was secured by TATA. But they are unable to supply buses to BMTC because of lack of Euro-4 technology.”
BMTC has a fleet of about 6,300 buses out of which 5,500 buses belong to the ordinary category. “Every year, BMTC promises to add 1000 new buses to its fleet to meet the increasing demand for mass transport. This year, BMTC has been unable to augment its fleet with new buses and plans to introduce new routes, scrap old vehicles and increase bus services have been postponed.
“As per the norms set by the Government of India, new buses cannot be registered if they do not meet Euro-4 standards. The Government is very strict about the emission standards. “Until we are able to procure more buses that meet these demands, we can’t expand our fleet. This is the reason for not being able to introduce new schedules on busy routes in the city,” said Mr Prabhu Das. Buses that meet Euro-4 emission standards are, of course, more eco-friendly, but they also cost much more, which will be a consideration for BMTC, according to Mr Prabhu Das.
The initiative is very good. Seems that our Govt is also taking steps toward Green and pollution free India and adhering to this policy. Buses only with Euro -4 emission standards are acceptable on road.
ReplyDeleteBut, there should be some more steps that govt should take on time. First, Ordinary buses should be banned ASAP because they are causing pollution. Second, to compensate this loss of less buses on road, strict policies should be made and followed while passing the tender. Tender secured party should be penalized appropriately if they fail to meet the deadline. Because their failure costs many precisions lives. I agree that this stringent technology needs time but we are already behind the time and now the time to realize the backlog and should start reacting instantly.