Tatas fined Rs 4 crore for DTC bus fires

[n.devdath]

Looks like today is the day of consumer awakening in the auto world in India.
Delhi Transport Corporation has imposed a fine of INR:4.0 Crore on TATA for its supposedly "low quality" buses supplied to DTC.
Here is the complete article:-
Source:-Times of India.

The Delhi government has imposed a Rs 4-crore penalty on Tata Motors for poor maintenance of its low-floor bus fleet in the city after as many as six incidents of fire and other major snags were reported in these vehicles in the past fortnight alone. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit said the company has been given till January to put its 950 buses in order.

The government has also decided to withhold payment of Rs 150 crore to Tata for a new lot of 300-odd buses, pending action to ensure these incidents do not recur.

Transport minister Ar-vinder Singh Lovely made it clear that even a single incident of fire in the future would prompt the government to initiate criminal proceedings against Tata Motors and cancel its annual maintenance contract.
After a furore in the Delhi assembly over the issue, Dikshit chaired a high-level meeting to discuss various deficiencies observed by DTC in the new fleet of buses.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the issue of fires in DTC’s low-floor buses on Monday. The meeting was attended by transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, DTC managing director Naresh Kumar and senior officers from Tata Motors.

After the meeting, Dikshit said it had been decided that there would be better coordination between DTC and Tata Motors as safety was of paramount important in ensuring a reliable public transport system. Tata Motors has been told to undertake comprehensive checks on the 950 buses by January 2010 and put in place a plan for regular monitoring of the vehicles.

In the assembly, the opposition deplored the government’s ‘‘callous’’ approach towards huge investments made on these buses. The ruling benches too expressed concern over the snags and reports of buses catching fire.

‘‘In just about 15 days, there have been six episodes of fire and snags in low-floor buses. People feel scared of getting into a low-floor bus. These new buses are almost like moving bombs waiting to explode on the streets,’’ Vijay Kumar Malhotra, leader of the BJP-led opposition said.

He accused the government of wasting large sums of money on these vehicles. Each low-floor AC bus was bought for Rs 60 lakh and the non-AC ones for Rs 50 lakh.

Declaring that accountability will be fixed, transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said, ‘‘I am embarrassed at what has happened. I will not try to give explanations in defence. But the fact is that there was fire in only one incident when the tyre of the bus burst. In all other cases, problems occurred due to technical snags and these buses are back on the roads.’’

He added that the reports of snags were nonetheless worrying and the problem needed to be studied and monitored.

Lovely’s reply infuriated BJP leader Harshvardhan, who accused the minister of trivializing a critical issue. ‘‘What do you mean that there was fire in only once case? Will the government only consider an incident to be big when the entire bus gets burnt and a few people die? Every snag, whether due to a technical problem or any other reason, is big enough,’’ said. BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri jumped into the discussion alleging a scam in the purchase of the low-floor buses. The BJP members then staged a walk out on the issue.

During his reply, Lovely also said that in 2008, there were 226 accidents involving Bluelines, 37 involving DTC buses and just two in which low-floor buses were named.

This is the URL:
Tatas fined Rs 4 crore for DTC bus fires - Delhi - City - The Times of India

[dkamath]

This topic has been discussed already over here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1631401-post1981.html

Request mod's to move it to the appropriate thread.

[Sudan_NFS]

I wish the government to consider even for cars that burn and take the count based on the manufacturer and do investigation on them.
Atl east by now TATA will take quality seriously.

[n.devdath]

What suprises me is the fact that these Low Floor Buses were developed jointly by Tata and some Brazilian bus maker who was supposed to be the best in business.
Moreover, this was/is an attempt by TATA to compete with the Volvo B7/9R LEs that are being used in Bangalore, Pune and a few other places.
With such levels of quality and upkeep, the future of these high tech buses made by TATA is in jeopardy.

[MotoKris]

it is surprising that the worlds 3rd largest coach maker's attempt into modern coaches in their home country is facing such silly glitches. I just hope the issues were not really big and were resolved for good and that Tata's haven't left their quality on South African shores before entering the Indian market.

[.anshuman]

DTC is a government department it can do so but what about those thousands of Safari/Indica/Indigo owners who have spent end number of hours fighting with the service staff.

[pb10gagan]

read in today's TOI

that TATA have admitted to some mechanical fault in their low floor buses and have volunteered to get the whole lot checked and fixed.

typical TATA.

its high time they setup a quality department and stop playing with lives of people.

and such incident of negligence would have got TATA banned in a developed country.

[sandeepmdas]

OT:
" Each low-floor AC bus was bought for Rs 60 lakh and the non-AC ones for Rs 50 lakh. "

Whopping disparity of price there, between AC and non-AC models.

[n.devdath]

At times, it gives me pride when I read articles about the philanthropic nature of the TATAs in terms of forming trusts, colleges, institutions etc for the welfare of the country and the generations to come. Their leaders have been honored worldwide for their achievements and principles.

At other times, looking into the quality of their automotive products at least, I feel ashamed to say that TATA is an Indian brand, the pioneer of many industries in India.

Its high time they got their basics right and then moved on to higher levels of community/national welfare.

[getsurya]

TATA will never change its attitude when it comes to automobiles. Treats customers like guinea pigs! I am sorry if this is hurting some sentiments, however we have had two safari's at home from last 6+ years due to various reasons and the TCIC one was a pain in the neck and the later one a pain in the - - -. Absolutely poor quality and bad customer service. Well done DTC!! Three cheers to you.

[greenhorn]

if only us customers could fight back like this :(

[aaggoswami]

Came across this news claiming that there is no manufacturing defect in Tata Low floor busses.

Source : No manufacturing defects in Delhi low-floor buses: Tata Motors

Article :

No manufacturing defects in Delhi low-floor buses: Tata Motors
Tata Motors today said there is no inherent manufacturing defect in the low-floor buses supplied to DTC, a day after it was slapped Rs 4 crore fine by the Delhi government and withheld payment of Rs 150 crore following instances of fire in six such buses.

"Tata Motors has reassured itself and categorically states that there is no inherent manufacturing defects in the buses," the company said in a statement here today.

The company, which first supplied the buses in 2007, said the first lot of 650 buses have been driven on an average about 1,00,000 km each in a trouble-free manner under "fairly rigorous conditions."

"It is only in the recent past that a few buses had shown mechanical issues, which are getting corrected. As abundant caution, the company is examining other buses, and will take appropriate action," it added.

In the last three weeks, six low-floor buses of Tata's latest fleet have caught fire, raising concerns about passenger safety.

As part of the punitive measures, the Delhi government yesterday decided to withhold a payment of Rs 150 crore to the company for supplying 390 buses, besides a fine of Rs 4 crore for poor maintenance, and warned of legal action if corrective steps are not taken by the automobile giant.

The city government had given Tata Motors 45 days time to do a complete check-up of 950 buses it has supplied to the city transport corporation (DTC).

In the beginning of this year, the company had bagged a contract to supply 1,625 ultra-low-floor buses to DTC for Rs 2,200 crore under a 12-year contract.

[srishiva]

The buses that TATA operate (marco polo) look awful compared to the Volvos here. Moreover, the new Volvo with CRD engines are super clean on emissions.
Each bus in Bengaluru from TATA is to cost 32 lakh. I dont know why its 60 lakh in Delhi.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by srishiva

The buses that TATA operate (marco polo) look awful compared to the Volvos here. Moreover, the new Volvo with CRD engines are super clean on emissions.
Each bus in Bengaluru from TATA is to cost 32 lakh. I dont know why its 60 lakh in Delhi.

+1 to that, the look part.
As far as the price goes, I guess the CNG kit adds to the price by a certain extent ( a couple of lacs at most) but the cost being double that of BMTC costs....Hmmm something is wrong somewhere.

[coldice4u]

As far as i can remember TATA had either bought over Marcopolo or had picked up significant stake in the coach building company(Brazilian i guess as someone had pointed out). i have not taken a ride in the Volvo low floors in blgr so cannot comment on them, but the new TATA buses seem to be good enough( have rode in both the AC & non-AC versions).
The AC versions do come with a more powerful engine(can tell from the exhaust,larger in the AC versions) which might explain the glaring difference in the cost. But cant say if they are cheaper than Volvo's in blgr. The AC's are quite powerful as i had taken a ride during delhi summers (40-44C) & it was really chilly inside. Albeit the buses were new then.
With the kind of dusty environment in Delhi, i suggest TATA should install military-grade air filters .
O.T. the drivers do need to be better trained as they are still used to the old buses. remember once the driver had switched off the AC, but insisted that the AC was on!!!