The New Nation - Internet Edition

The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), the pollution monitoring arm of the Supreme Court of India, issued a new set of directives here recently to ensure implementation of CNG bus safety regulations in Delhi. These directives are targeted at the Delhi government, the bus manufacturers and bus operators. The EPCA's action comes in the wake of an incident of fire aboard a CNG school bus in the capital on January 27, 2007.

The EPCA has been monitoring the implementation of CNG bus safety regulations in Delhi over the last few years. From time to time, it has issued appropriate directions to improve safety-related engineering parameters and components in CNG buses, inspection and maintenance of CNG buses, enforcement of safety rules and regulations and also the specifications of CNG fuel quality (see atached note). While a number of these directives have been implemented, and considerable progress has been made in building the infrastructure for safety inspection in the city, some serious lapses still remain. "We are deeply disturbed as safety regulations are not being fully enforced," said Shri Bhure Lal, chairperson, EPCA.

Following the incident, the EPCA constituted a team of experts to investigate it; the commitee has carefully examined the burnt bus, its documents and the circumstances leading to the accident and submited its findings to the Authority. It is clear that this 13-year-old converted bus did not go for its requisite quarterly inspections for over seven months. To prevent any such untoward incident in future, the Authority has released a set of directives which, it says, "must be enforced with zero tolerance for lapses". These directives are:

1. Introduce mobile facility for safety inspection: The Department of Transport of the Delhi government should set up a mobile facility for safety inspection to check gas leakage and other safety-related parameters for random on-road surprise inspection by February 7, 2007. The EPCA will do a monthly review.

2. Make quarterly safety inspection mandatory:

a. In addition to the annual fitness and third party inspection that all buses have to undergo currently, the transport department will institute a system of quarterly safety inspections. For this, 20 safety inspection centres have been created-five in DTC depots and 15 in the workshops of the two bus manufacturers - Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland.

b. The transport department must issue notices stating that certificates of quarterly inspections obtained from these centres will be mandatory for geting annual fitness certificates and permits.

c. All bus operators must register for quarterly inspection with inspection centres within 15 days to enable tracking of the inspection status of the buses in future. The transport department will maintain a complete list of the registrations. The department should take action against bus operators-even impound their buses-if they do not appear for the quarterly inspections within the due date.

d. Each bus owner will have to maintain a logbook with the details of periodic testing and repairs.

3. Improve safety inspection facilities and testing:

a. All buses must be inspected according to the officially approved check-list for safety tests. The transport department must inspect and ensure that the test facilities and test procedures in all authorised workshops are as per the specifications detailed out by the EPCA-led expert commitee on CNG safety.

b. All authorised workshops of the DTC, the bus manufacturers as well as the transport department (for its mobile facility) must immediately obtain automatic leak detectors, voltage testing meters, etc.

4. Directives for the bus manufacturers:

a. Tata Motors must act on re-routing of wire harness in the remaining Tata buses - including converted buses - within one month to avoid safety related accidents. The transport department should ensure compliance in this regard.

b. Vehicle manufacturers have already offered special packages to rectify problems of gas leakage etc at reasonable costs. All buses must avail of this package. The transport department must ensure this is implemented.

5. Prepare schedule for phasing out of old buses: The transport department must submit to the EPCA a list of the buses that are due for phase-out

6. Follow up action: The EPCA is seting up a commitee under the chairmanship of Dr H B Mathur, vehicle technology expert, to oversee compliance and auditing and report to the Authority on its findings.

The CNG bus programme in Delhi is among the largest in the world; it has helped lower the peak air pollution levels of the '90s and has stabilised the problem. Globally, CNG vehicles are considered safe and clean. Lack of proper implementation of the safety regulations must not be allowed to compromise the quality of the programme, which has enormous potential to clean up the air and protect public health in the city.

(Source: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) New Delhi)