Delhi: Panel formed to check reasons for bus fires

The panel will have special commissioner (operations) of the transport department, Neeraj Bharti, as its chairperson, and will include members from IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University among others.

Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot on Thursday formed a six-member committee to find out the reason behind incidents of fire in the buses run by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

The committee has been asked to submit its interim report within 15 days and the final report in 30 days. (PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist)

“Four incidents of fire in DTC buses in the last two months have raised safety concerns. It is considered essential to constitute a committee to investigate the recent incidences of fire in DTC buses, identify the root causes, review the modalities of repair and maintenance, scrutiny and checks of buses at the various levels of officials and suggest the remedial measures,” read the order signed by Gahlot.

The committee has been asked to submit its interim report within 15 days and the final report in 30 days.

The panel will have special commissioner (operations) of the transport department, Neeraj Bharti, as its chairperson, and will include members from IIT Delhi and Delhi Technological University among others.

HT on July 26 last year reported that 99% of the fleet of DTC buses has crossed the technical operational limit for low-floor CNG buses making them extra vulnerable to breakdowns that could be a safety hazard.