Another DTC bus on fire, fifth such incident in last 2 months

New Delhi: Even as a Delhi government-constituted panel continues to investigate instances of Delhi Transport Corporation buses spontaneously catching fire on the road, yet another DTC bus (non-AC) caught fire on Tuesday afternoon on Vikas Marg near ITO.

The fire department received information about the blaze around 2.25 pm following which a fire tender was rushed to the spot to douse the flames. The fire was brought under control at 2.50 pm and no one was injured in the incident, they added.

The bus that caught fire on Tuesday was from the Nand Nagri Depot and ran on route number 273.

And while the fires in these buses are quickly brought under control — the Delhi Transport Department is now looking into why the buses are catching fire in the first place.

According to the circular ordering the inquiry, at least four buses have spontaneously caught fire in the last two months. And Tuesday's fire makes it a fifth so far.

Many working in the DTC, including bus drivers and conductors, have expressed concerns that such spontaneous fires on the road pose a serious danger to passengers, themselves and other motorists and pedestrians on the roads. Several workers have also pointed out that many DTC buses are running despite crossing their age and having run the maximum distance they can.

While constituting the six-member panel to deal with the rising incidents of fire, the Delhi government had said that the panel will look into the root cause of these fires, review modalities of repairs and maintenance, and security checks of the buses - so that remedial measures can be recommended as soon as possible.

Given the urgency of the issue, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot has sought an interim report on the cause of the fire by the first week of May, following which, the panel has been asked to submit a final report to the government.