After temporarily suspending the operation of 186 midibuses following two fire accidents, the BMTC has begun training all its drivers in fire safety even as it awaits a detailed report on the vehicles' safety.
The 186 medium-sized (midi) buses were purchased in 2014-15 from Ashok Leyland and have been used for six years as the BMTC could not run them on a full scale during the first and second waves of the pandemic.
After two of these buses caught fire (on January 21 and February 1), senior officials in the BMTC, as well as the company experts, have been inspecting 20-30 buses every day to understand any possible problem in the system, especially their electrical infrastructure, before clearing them for operation.
BMTC Managing Director V Anbu Kumar said a detailed report on the buses was expected in the next two days. “We are reintroducing the buses after a thorough check. At the same time, we also checked why the fire extinguishers were not used by the driver or conductor. The extinguishers were in working condition and all buses have them,” he said.
After an initial inquiry showed the staff did not know how to use fire extinguishers in an emergency situation, the BMTC began to train its drivers and conductors on Friday.
Kumar said they had been getting assistance from the Fire and Emergency Department. “If the drivers had used the extinguishers, the buses would not have been burnt. All the officers, including myself, are getting trained,” he added.
Kumar said on any given day, the BMTC operates at least 6,000 buses that make 50,000 trips over about 11 lakh km.
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