Anti-microbial coating for 10,000 MSRTC buses

Maharashtra is one of the worst-affected states due to the pandemic with more than 62.90 lakh cases and 1.32 lakh fatalities reported so far. The MSRTC, known as the lifeline of the state, has more than 16,500 buses.The corporation dealt with a money crunch even before the Covid-induced lockdown, with a debt burden of around Rs 4,000 crore. The lockdown in two phases has elevated its debt burden to more than Rs 9,000 crore.The MSRTC used to earn Rs 22 crore every day before the Covid-19 outbreak, but now its revenue from passenger services has fallen to barely Rs 7 crore - Rs 8 crore, said an official MSRTC has around 16,500 passenger buses in its fleet. It used to ferry around 65 lakh passengers on its buses daily. But due to the curtailed bus operations after the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, the corporation is currently using only 10,000 buses. All these buses will be sprayed with anti-microbial coating in the first phase.The coating costs around Rs 9,500 for each bus.According to MSRTC officials, contractors will have to get the certificate about the durability of their coatings from the Haffkine Institute, apart from that, the corporation will check the effectiveness of the coating through the third party agency by carrying out swab tests from the bus surfaces. Third-party agencies will take the swabs from the bus’s surface and check the viral load.The anti-microbial coating is a process of spying chemical agents on the surfaces to prevent the growth of various microbes like viruses, bacteria and fungus. Some offices and airlines commonly use these coatings, said Shekhar Channe, vice chairman and managing director of MSRTC. He said due to the pandemic, the passengers are reluctant to travel on public transport due to fear of catching the infection. The anti-microbial coating will help in removing the fear from their minds.“The work orders of anti-microbial coating for 10,000 buses have already been given to the two agencies shortlisted through the tendering process. Work will start soon,” said another officer of MSRTC, adding that the coating will help curb the transmission of the virus, besides helping to maintain the overall hygiene in the public transport buses.As per the contract, the anti-microbial coating will be applied mainly on seats, hand rests, windows, guard rails on windows, railings, driver cabin, flooring, rubber glazing. passenger door, emergency door and luggage compartment of the buses.