Eleven months down the line, only 1,800 buses have been delivered so far against the expected 14,000 buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) announced in January, 2009. This has triggered a blame game between the urban development ministry and bus manufactures across the country. ?There has been a clear gap between the orders placed and deliveries made till date. There needs to be an improvement in the assessment of industry capacity in delivering the buses with required specifications,? Somnath Bhattacharjee, vice-president (sales, marketing and after market), VE Commercial Vehicles said.
?Aiming to improve the transport system of our city on the whole, we ordered for low-floor buses with higher number of destination boards, vehicle tracking system and electronic collection. The auto companies are, however, finding it difficult to meet these specifications and deliver the buses on time. We are expecting the bulk of supply to take place by this December and all of it by March 2010,? sources said.
According to the latest data from the urban development ministry, 1,800 buses have been delivered till now under the JNNURM as against orders for 11,185 buses by various states. While Maharashtra has bagged the largest share of 296 buses, Uttar Pradesh followed with 276 units, West Bengal got 250 units, Tamil Nadu 217 buses, Andhra Pradesh 185 buses, Himachal Pradesh nine units and Kerala received eight units.
?While the urban development has agreed for deliveries up to December 2009, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) has represented the industry to further extend the delivery period in light of a varying range of specifications to be met,? a spokesperson of Tata Motors said. The company is acting with alacrity to deliver the buses, he added. According to the spokesperson of Tata Motors, the company received orders for 5,500 buses and would achieve the target of over 1,000 buses by November-end.
Meanwhile, country?s second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland has already extended the delivery schedule for its buses ordered under JNNURM. ?Of the total 5,187 buses ordered, we have delivered 900 buses and hope to achieve the delivery target by March 2010,? Ashok Leyland deputy general manager (corporate communication) Vinod Chacko said. As per Siam, sales of passenger carriers increased by 2.7% in October at 40,279 units as against 39,215 units in October last year.
