Again,fire spotted in low-floor bus

DTC officials said the driver of the bus on route number 323 (Dhaula Kuan to Noida) stopped near the Moolchand crossing at 3.25 pm after a passerby informed him that there were sparks near the engine at the rear of the bus. The bus,from Mayapuri depot,was going towards Sarai Kale Khan and the incident was reported when it had reached the Haldiram’s outlet on Outer Ring Road.

After asking all passengers to get off,the driver used the fire extinguisher in the bus to extinguish the “minor” fire,a DTC official said. The bus was later taken to Sukhdev Vihar depot — a short-circuit in the battery wire was found to have caused the fire,according to the official.

“The bus was examined by engineers of Tata Motors who are in charge of servicing the vehicles,” the official added.

Following similar bus accidents in the last nearly three weeks,the Transport department had constituted a four-member committee to look into the cause of fires and breakdowns of these low-floor buses. The report is still awaited. The government recently imposed a fine of Rs 4 crore on Tata Motors for laxity in maintenance of these vehicles.

The company has so far supplied 950 low-floor buses to Delhi government.