Passenger bus, running under recently launched M.P. govt service, gutted in fire; passengers evacuated safely

A passenger bus, linked to Madhya Pradesh Government’s recently launched public bus service, was gutted in fire on Tuesday (October 6, 202) near Ujjain with about 40 people in it who managed to get out without any injuries, officials said. 

The incident took place in Ramwas area, about 15 kilometres from Ujjain when the bus was traveling from the holy city to Indore. Officials, however, said that it was a private operator bus, under contract with the government as part of the Mukhyamantri Sugam Parivahan Seva, that was launched on September 25. 

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had flagged off 351 buses, reintroducing a public bus service in the State after 21 years, under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. 

Speaking to The Hindu, Madhya Pradesh Transport Secretary Manish Singh said that while the exact cause of incident was yet to be known, an inquiry has been initiated in the matter. 

Mr. Singh denied media reports claiming that the fire was caused due to a tyre burst.

“It appears to have occurred due to a short-circuit in the bus. But all the passengers were evacuated safely before the blaze spread,” he said.  

Mr. Singh said that the bus was already being operated by a private company and was recently brought under a contract with the the Madhya Pradesh Passenger Transport and Infrastructure Limited, a recently established State-owned company, for operations. 

Mr. Singh also denied recent allegations that the government had “rebranded old buses as new”.

“We never claimed that the government is going to buy 15,000 buses [the targeted number by 2031]. We have started operations with the PPP model and it is still in the transition phase. We have started developing our infrastructure and are working to better regulate the operations like ticketing and maintain safety protocols but the buses will be brought in by private operators only,” said Mr. Singh, who is also the managing director of the company. 

After the resumption of services, the Congress has alleged that the BJP government has pasted saffron colour vinyl sheets on old buses while raising questions on their fitness standards. Various videos also surfaced on the internet showing the sheet peeling off from the buses. 

Mr. Singh said that there was “nothing wrong with it” and that the private operators had modified the outlook of the buses as per their budget. 

“All the buses that were added have passed the fitness test but are in a condition to run about 5-10 years. Of all the buses that were flagged off, only about 50 were newly bought by some of the private operators,” he said.