The owner of the brand new `Nano’ car, which caught fire on the day it was purchased last month, is planning to approach consumer court here soon seeking Rs 15 -lakh compensation from the manufacturer Tata Motors.
Satish Sawant (37), a software professional, said he had received a Rs 2.25-lakh cheque as a refund from Concorde Motors, a fully-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, using which he settled his bank loan.
“Last week, Concorde Motors sent me a cheque of Rs 2.25 lakh, the cost of the car, to settle the issue. After discussing about it with my family and friends, I accepted the cheque and deposited in the bank to settle my loan. But the issue is yet to be settled and this amount can not be termed as compensation,” Sawant told PTI.
“I demand Rs 15 lakh for the shock and trauma suffered by me and my family. I want to teach the company a lesson so that such incidents do not happen again. They (the company) are not responding to my queries. So I am planning to drag them to consumer court,” he added.
On March 21, Sawant took the delivery of Nano, touted as India’s cheapest car, from a showroom at Prabhadevi in Central Mumbai and when he arrived near Mulund-Airoli bridge on the city’s outskirts, the vehicle caught fire. Sawant’s family was also in the car, but no one was injured.
Sawant said he had also written to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata and other executives of the firm seeking a detailed analysis of what went wrong with the car.
“It’s nearly three weeks but nobody bothered to inform me what happened on that day. I also want the company to apologise to my family for the trauma caused to us,” Sawant said.
Tata Motors had asked me to transfer the ownership of the burnt car in its name, he claimed.
“Tata Motors had requested Sawant to accept a new Nano or take refund of the money paid for the Nano that he had bought. He decided to take the refund. The company does not have anything else to say,” said a Tata Motors spokesperson.
