18 JNNURM buses taken off roads after fire incident in Visakhapatnam

Eighteen buses procured under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) have been withdrawn from service and parked at the Steel City depot after a Metro Express bus caught fire near Shantipuram Junction on the national highway on Friday. The fire, caused by a short circuit, immediately drew the attention of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was in the city.

The Chief Minister questioned officials and directed that all JNNURM buses in the region be halted until a complete technical inspection is carried out. Following his orders, the buses were shifted to the Steel City depot on Friday afternoon.

The undivided Visakhapatnam district received 18 buses between 2015 and 2017 under the JNNURM scheme, with the Centre covering 50 percent of the cost and the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) paying the rest. Authorities allocated the vehicles to the Steel City depot for highway operations. Sixteen of these buses were serving Vizianagaram routes, while two operated between Dwarka bus station and Duvvada railway station.

On Saturday, a team of RTC engineers carried out inspections in the wake of the fire. Senior mechanical engineers Sharma and Madhav, along with Executive Director (Mechanical) Brahmananda Reddy from Vijayawada, examined both the gutted bus at Shantipuram Junction and the parked fleet. They were briefed by Visakhapatnam Regional Manager B. Appalanaidu, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager Padmavati, and other engineering staff.