Guwahati, 1 June: A stopped passenger bus unexpectedly caught fire at a depot in the Tinsukia district of Assam on Thursday morning. Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) bus depot in Tinsukia is where the incident was reported.
According to reports, the bus with the licence plate “AS12 BC 9447” was completely destroyed in the fire the cause of which has not yet been determined.
The bus was scheduled to depart for Tezpur but unexpectedly caught fire on Thursday morning. Fortunately, no one was injured because no passengers had yet boarded the bus.
It is important to note that the incident occurs while a number of the transport agency’s former employees who were fired from their positions protest against it. It was revealed on Tuesday that the ASTC will fire up to 771 workers who had been hired unlawfully.
An official notice alleges that when Anand Prakash Tiwari and Khagendra Nath Chetia served as Managing Directors, a total of 2,274 personnel were hired without following the proper procedures.
An argument broke out at the company’s office in Guwahati’s Paltanbazar on Wednesday after the decision was made.
A number of the affected workers met at the ASTC office in Paltanbazar and confronted the State Transport Employees Union general secretary with questions regarding their unannounced termination from their positions.
As the irate workers asked that the decision to fire them be promptly overturned, the situation worsened.
Later, Paltanbazar police arrived at the area to stabilize the situation.