PMPML to appoint senior officials to monitor contractors’ services

In the morning on Tuesday, August 1, two PMPML buses collided near Kharadi between Janak Baba Dargha and Aple Ghar housing society on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway, injuring 29 passengers

PUNE: After finding out that one of the two Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses which collided on the Nagar Road BRTS (bus rapid transit system) corridor on August 1 injuring 29 passengers was a contract bus, the public transport body has decided to appoint senior officials to monitor the services of contractors.

To avoid any accident in which the passengers’ lives are at stake, we will take strict action against contractors from now on, said PMPML chiefs. (HT PHOTO)

Chairman and managing director of PMPML, Sachindra Pratap Singh, said, “We are carrying out a detailed inquiry into the contractor whose bus met with the accident. This includes elements such as the contractor’s system of deploying drivers, whether these drivers are paid overtime, and if there is any mismanagement in the operations. We have deployed senior officials for an internal inquiry into this accident and we will get the report in the next two to three days. The officials are carrying out data mining and checking out the contractor’s systems.”

“We are going to put in place a system of checks and balances in which our depot managers will closely monitor bus operations and the systems followed by contract buses. To avoid any accident in which the passengers’ lives are at stake, we will take strict action against contractors from now on. In most accident cases, the buses involved are contract buses but PMPML’s reputation is tarnished,” Singh said.

In the morning on Tuesday, August 1, two PMPML buses collided near Kharadi between Janak Baba Dargha and Aple Ghar housing society on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway, injuring 29 passengers. One was a CNG bus headed from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to Talegaon Dhamdhere while the other was an electric bus headed from Wagholi to Warje-Malwadi. While the CNG bus belonged to the PMPML, the e-bus was a contract bus. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the driver driving the e-bus had just completed his night shift before resuming day shift duties.