344 PMPML buses to be scrapped by end of 2019: Chief engineer Kailas Gawade

Kailas Gawade, PMPML chief engineer explains the challenges, and the plans to keep damaged buses off the road

PMPML chief engineer Kailas Gawade is in no illusion about the challenge facing the city’s public buses. His view, however, is determined by what he sees from behind the eye-protectors involved in using a soldering iron. A lot of soldering does take place at the PMPML workshops. Gawade explains the challenges, and the plans to keep damaged buses off the roads

Mechanics at the PMPML depot in Swargate are often keeping alive buses way past the best-before date. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

Can the regular breakdown of buses be blamed on lack of proper maintenance by the engineering and repair departments?

At our central workshop here in Swargate, and also at all the other workshops and depots, regular maintenance is done by the mechanical staff. There are various reasons for buses getting damaged; the first and most important is that many buses are at least 10 years in use. We have already started the process of scrapping old buses. Another reason is that some of our buses go into the interior rural areas; especially those operating from the Kothrud and Marketyard depots. The roads in these rural areas are bad and this affects the structural body of buses.

Once a bus gets damaged, what is the repair process?

Is there a solution to the issue of damaged buses running in the city?

As the new electric buses have started coming in, we are now, one by one, scrapping old buses which are 10-years old, or more. In last two months we have scrapped 93 buses and our target is to scrap all buses from 2003 to 2008 by the end of the year; a total of 344 buses. We have also recently increased our technical staff to 110, so that repairs to damaged buses can be executed faster.