The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking will replace the high-pressure gauge of 828 buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) in the aftermath of the fire in a CNG bus on May 3. The administration reviewed all CNG buses and selected buses that had completed over five lakh km.
A BEST bus was gutted on the morning of May 3 at Dindoshi following an explosion. There were three passengers other than the driver and conductor. No one was injured in the incident.
At a meeting on Wednesday, BEST officials said the fire had occurred due to gas leakage after the high-pressure gauge had exploded. “We had never experienced this before. Our investigation found that the bus was fit and there were no issues with the fuel tank or the pressure gauge,” A.S. Lad, chief works manager, BEST, informed the committee.
Mr. Lad said while the leakage of gas added fuel to the fire, it is yet to be ascertained as to what caused the fire. He said during the course of the investigation, engineers from Tata Motors, the manufacturer of the bus, and M/s Wika Instruments Pvt Ltd were also told to investigate and provide probable causes behind the bursting of the gauge.
BEST committee members cited poor maintenance and staff shortage as the key reasons behind the fire.
BJP corporator Sunil Ganacharya said when he reviewed the condition of the damaged bus, the fuel tank was intact. “Had the incident occurred when the bus was travelling in the opposite direction, the result would have been disastrous.” He said, “With our fleet size depleting, the engineering department is under pressure to have buses back on the road as quickly as possible.”
Shiv Sena corporator Anil Kokil questioned how there was no instrument to alert the driver that the gas was leaking.
BEST committee chairman Anil Patankar said the administration should consider installing panic buttons for passengers and have a system like the black box in aeroplanes.
The BEST has 1,885 CNG buses in its fleet of 3,200 buses.