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ShareAhmedabad: The AMC standing committee maintained a status quo, allegedly under political pressure, on the order given to Tata Motors to supply buses for the BRTS project.
Tata Motors was given an order to supply 235 buses for the project. However, the company failed to deliver the prototype bus as per the schedule. The municipal commissioner had asked the committee to review the decision to award the contract to Tata Motors, but the committee instead gave more time to the company to deliver the prototype.
"The company was supposed to deliver 50 buses in October," said Asit Vora, chairman of the AMC's standing committee.He said apart from Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland was awarded a contract to supply 245 buses for the same project.
Tata Motors quoted a lower price compared to Ashok Leyland.However, the quality of buses manufactured by Ashok Leyland is better than that of Tata Motors. "The difference in the price quoted by both the companies is around Rs1 lakh," said Vora.
The Congress had opposed the standing committee's decision to award contract to Tata Motors, even though it was the lowest bidder, when the proposal was placed for discussion in the meeting."The committee had taken the decision to award the contract to Tata Motors only under pressure from the state government," said Hasankhan Pathan, a member of the standing committee.
He said that the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services had decided not to purchase buses from Tata Motors following bad experience in the past.It should be noted that Asit Vora was chairman of AMTS when the decision was taken.
Talking about the past experience with Tata Motors, Vora said past experiences are not applicable to present situations.
Debashish Ray, head of corporate communication department of Tata Motors said that the company will show the prototype to the civic body by November 15, 2009 with the suggested changes.
Vora also said that Tata Motors has promised to deliver all the buses by December 31, 2009.
