All roads lead to Nugas

All roads lead to Nugas
MEGHA BAHREE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 26: Ever since the Supreme Court order granting a conditional extension till September 30 came in this afternoon, the phones haven't stopped ringing at Nugas. It is the only agency in the Capital authorised to convert diesel buses into CNG.

The firm has more than 2,000 conversion kits ready and can import another 500 every month. But the only problem is a lack of space. Says Ramesh Handa, Managing Director, Nugas, ``We can convert 20 buses a day provided we have adequate space. We had requested Delhi government to give us some land temporarily in February, but they haven't responded as yet.''

Currently, Nugas can convert only two buses a day as it takes approximately five hours each and they have very limited space. The conversion costs Rs 3.50 lakh per bus.

They have 20 engines and nine buses ready for sale, for which schools will be given a priority.

The company is charging Rs 50,000 to book an order for a CNG conversion. Under the arrangement following the apex court's orders, once an order for conversion is placed, Nugas will a forward a copy of the deposit receipt to Transport Commissioner Ashok Pradhan who will then issue a certificate to the transporter. As per the court's order, a transporter can run the same number of buses as he has applied for conversion till September 31.

Adequate checks have also been placed to prevent unscrupluous elements from playing mischief. For example, to get the deposit back in case a transporter wants to cancel the order, he has to produce a letter from Pradhan cancelling the permit and informing Nugas about it.

Moreover, customers just might get lucky with a price war in the offing as Nugas is offering brand new buses for Rs 13.10 lakh as against Rs 16 lakh offered by Ashok Leyland and Telco. ``We are doing this with schools in mind,'' said Handa. ``We are not making any profit,'' he said, explaining the price difference.

Nugas also claims that they can now provide air-conditioned CNG buses and they have just completed two such buses. An air-conditioned coach costs Rs 20 lakh while the air conditioner itself costs another Rs six lakh. ``It needs two engines and since the SC has not laid any regulations on the type of fuel for the AC, we have put in a diesel one for that and a CNG one for the main bus,'' explained Handa.