DTC to lose over 1,000 international buses owing to poor upkeep

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is likely to lose more than 1,000 international buses, a kind of low floor buses manufactured in foreign countries, by 2019 as the companies like Tata Motors and Ashok Layland have reportedly failed to take good care of them in spite of being in charge of their maintenance.

A senior official of DTC said that ahead of the Commonwealth games in 2007 DTC bought nearly 2,000 international standard buses. It also signed contracts of maintenance with the manufacturing companies of these buses including Tata Motors and Ashok Layland. “These companies have not taken care of the vehicles properly and we have to reject these buses very soon,” the official said.

After getting the buses, the DTC engineers claimed that the spare parts for these were not available in the Indian markets. The key point of the contract was these companies will take care of these vehicles till they cover 7.5 lakh km. Besides this, the road conditions of the capital city is not fit for these buses. DTC will not be able to take care of these buses beyond the contract limit, claimed the official.

According to the DTC, these companies were also not sure of the estimated maintenance cost. “We cannot afford the high cost of maintenance. In much lesser, we will buy new vehicles. The contract of maintenance will be over by 2019 for most of the buses,” the official said. However, the DTC accepted that losing more than 1000 buses will be a major setback for them. Talking about the remedial masseurs, the official said: “We will never buy those products again. The standard Indian buses are much suitable both in terms of cost and quality.”

The official also added that these companies are putting non-negotiable rates to the DTC for the future business which may force them to do business with other companies. While the DTC is still trying to figure out what to do with these buses, the companies have clarified that the extension of the contract for maintenance will not be possible.