Three Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses parked at the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) depot at Maraimalaiadigal Salai were damaged in a fire here in the early hours of Tuesday. While one of them was completely gutted, a portion of the other two was gutted. The loss is estimated at ₹15 lakh.
The PRTC has a fleet of 143 buses plying within Puducherry and to cities in neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Because of shortage of parking at the main depot in Orleanpet, PRTC had opened up parking space at the SETC depot to accommodate some buses.
Cause not known
Police sources said that 11 buses of the PRTC were parked at the SETC depot. A security guard at the depot saw flames erupting from one of the PRTC buses at around 3.30 a.m. He called the staff in the depot who rushed and tried to put out the flames. The buses were parked side by side and the second and third bus also caught fire. By the time the two fire tenders arrived from Puducherry, one of the buses was completely gutted while the other two were partially damaged.
The cause of the fire is yet to be known. Sources in PRTC said the area did not have street lights in the area and a group regularly slept in the depot.
The security guard had chased them away on Tuesday night.
A case had been registered and investigations were on.
About three months ago, a PRTC driver had been assaulted by “agents” of private bus operators precipitating a flash strike by about 250 drivers and conductors, who were recruited to the PRCTC on contract.
Contract staff had been complaining that not only do such elements use strong-arm methods to lure away passengers at vantage bus stops to private services, but also subject PRTC drivers/conductors to abuse.
However, the police have ruled out this rivalry as the cause of the incident.
