MoRTH asks DRDO's fire safety arm CFEES to probe Ola scooter case

Investigation will also cover Praise Pro electric scooter of Okinawa Scooters, which in a separate incident in Tamil Nadu, also caught fire and reportedly caused two deaths

After a video of an Ola S1 Pro scooter catching fire went viral on social media last week, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has ordered a probe into the incident. The ministry has asked the Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) to investigate the circumstances that led to the parked vehicle to go ablaze.

CFEES is the fire science and engineering arm of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), under its Systems Analysis and Modelling cluster.

The investigation will also cover the Praise Pro electric scooter of Okinawa Scooters, which, in a separate incident in Tamil Nadu, also caught fire. The incident reportedly caused two deaths.

“The findings of the report, and remedial measures for improvement in each of these cases, may be shared with the ministry,” an order by the road transport ministry read.

MoRTH also asked for prompt action on the research organisation’s end.

This comes after MoRTH Secretary Giridhar Aramane reportedly said that the ministry had launched an independent probe into the matter.

On Saturday, a video from Pune did the rounds of social media, showing an idle Ola scooter emitting smoke, eventually catching fire to the point of being charred. Nobody was harmed in the incident.

The cab aggregator and automaker had responded to the incident, saying they’d started a probe into the incident and were in constant touch with the owner of the vehicle, who is completely safe.

Ola’s Chief Executive Officer Bhavish Aggarwal took to Twitter to address the issue. “Safety is top priority. We’re investigating this and will fix it,” he wrote.

Industry experts believe that the onset of the summer season is the real challenge for e-scooters, which use lithium-ion batteries. As per reports, these batteries can catch fire owing to manufacturing defects.