The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will fine PMI Electro Mobility Options, a Haryana-based electric bus manufacturer, after the company missed another deadline for supplying air-conditioned electric buses. The company was supposed to deliver 10 AC buses to NMC in September but failed to do so.
“In August, they had failed to deliver 10 e-buses. Now, the NMC will issue another reminder because the company has failed to deliver 24 e-buses in the last two months. We will also impose a 0.1% penalty on the bus manufacturer,” deputy city commissioner and transport director Suresh Bagle told TOI.
The agreement signed between NMC and the company authorizes the civic body to collect a penalty of INR 12,000 per day per bus (0.1% of the bank guarantee of INR 12 crore) from the supplier for the delay, a transport department official said.
In 2022, NMC signed a contract which stipulated delivery of 144 air-conditioned electric buses. NMC had received INR 72 crore under the 15th Finance Commission for purchase of the buses. Apart from providing and operating 144 electric buses (AC), PMI is set to develop a mother charging station in Wathoda, construction of which is currently in progress, the official said.
So far, the company has delivered only 10 air-conditioned electric buses to the NMC, which have already been inducted into the Aapli bus fleet, the official added.
“As per the agreement, PMI was expected to deliver 14 buses in August, and 10 in September. The next phases include delivery of 20 buses in October, 30 in November, and the final delivery of 60 buses in December this year,” he said.
In August this year, NMC had served a notice to the company, but it has not responded to it yet, the official said.
Currently, NMC operates around 388 buses — 90 standard diesel buses, 34 CNG buses, 131 midi diesel buses, 42 mini diesel buses and the remaining electric buses, including 50 air-conditioned electric buses — on 191 routes. The average daily ridership of Aapli Bus is around 1.44 lakh passengers, while per day average income from operations of Aapli Bus service is around INR 25 lakh on weekdays.
