TMT starts fining its contractor for delay in supply of new buses

THANE: The TMT's claim that they will start generating profits in November has gone for a toss. The TMT failed to procure 200 new buses from the contractor in time, which has resulted in losses. Now, the TMT has started fining the contractor Rs 2,500 per bus per day to reduce its loss.
Currently, the TMT is undergoing major problems. Only a few weeks ago, the TMT administration considered slashing the salary of its employees.However, the issue was settled soon after. The new buses were expected to arrive by the end of October, but they are yet to arrive, once again raising questions about the TMT's profitibility
"We had expected the buses to arrive by the end of October, but have only received nine out of the 200 buses that we have purchased. We are already facing a huge loss and now our revenue is getting further affected because of the contractor's delay in supplying the new buses. To deal with the loss, we have started fining the contractor Rs 2,500 per bus per day. We began issuing the fines since the beginning of November. We have already collected Rs 1.43 crore by means of fine," informed Sudhakar Chavan, the TMT chairman.
The TMT had assured the civic commissioner that they would boost the transport revenue after they procured the new buses. "Although the 24 per cent salary cut had been resolved, we wanted to generate more revenue and that is only possible if we have more buses in our fleet. Currently we have 143 buses for our 16 lakh population," added Chavan.
The TMT makes Rs 3 lakh loss per day. Earlier, the TMT had lost Rs 12 crore worth of revenue as TMT buses weren't allowed into the station area while the Station Area Transport Improvement Scheme (SATIS) project was being constructed. Furthermore, there are buses that are still in the TMT workshop because of their poor condition. The RTO has also asked the TMT not to run 45 buses because they are not fit to run in the city.