Tender for bus body procurement lacks info on chassis height: DRA

CHENNAI: Members of the Disability Rights Alliance (DRA) have hit out at the State Transport Department for floating tenders to procure 2,328 buses for town and mofussil services even without mentioning the chassis-floor height.

The Institute of Road Transport has floated tenders to procure 1,138 chassis for mofussil buses and 1,190 town bus chassis, but without mentioning the chassis-floor height or the break-up of buses to be allotted to each of the 8 state transport undertakings (STUs).

The tender for the 672 low-floor buses has not been uploaded yet. “Recent tenders for 2,328 new buses omit STU-wise allocation and club all buses as mofussil or town; vague terms undefined in the Bus Body Code. Barring MTC, STUs operate both intra and inter-city bus types. Bus usage type not mentioned. The chassis floor height is not mentioned,” Vaishnavi Vijayakumar of DRA said.

She also noted that the DRA recently called out MTC getting 50 blue truck chassis height ‘buses’ it hadn’t tendered for. “What is mentioned is a throwaway nod to India’s Disability Legislation while tendering for buses not one passenger with reduced mobility will ever be able to get onto, safely,” she added.

The DRA also took to social media to call out the transport corporations for denying bus access to disabled citizens.

“We’re wasting time tracking non-compliant bus tenders. Bus body code needs to be amended & loopholes removed. Tendering templates on the lines of UBS-II are needed. RTOs need reminding to withhold plying permission to buses inaccessible to disabled. TN eg,” the post said tagging Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.