Delhi: 1,000 electric low-floor buses to be added by July

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Delhi: 1,000 electric low-floor buses to be added by July

Delhi government informed the apex court on Monday that 1,000 electrical buses will be added to Delhi’s public transport fleet, paving way for yet another measure in the drive to make Delhi pollution-free.

In an affidavit filed in Court, Delhi’s Principal Secretary-cum-Transport Commissioner Rajeev Verma said that based on the state Cabinet decision taken on July 11, 2018, the decision on rolling out electric buses has taken significant strides with the roll-out expected in July 2019.

The affidavit came in response to a slew of directions passed by a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta on January 18 this year when the Court wished to know the progress made on induction of low floor CNG buses and electric buses.

In all, the Delhi government informed that 3,000 buses will be inducted into the city’s public transport fleet before September 2019. This will include 1000 low-floor CNG non-AC buses by May 2019, another 1000 low-floor CNG AC buses by September 2019 and 1000 electric low-floor buses by July 2019. Since the technology used in electric buses is rarely used across the country, the Delhi government has already appointed a consultant to guide them on the use of this technology and tenders are expected to be floated by end of this month.

At present, electric buses are in vogue in Himachal Pradesh and few in Mumbai while Bengaluru and Hyderabad have placed orders for inducting 100 such buses. But Delhi will be the first city to induct electric buses in such large numbers.

The techno-financial assessment report of these buses was received on January 10 this year which is expected to be finalised shortly, the affidavit said. Once this is done, the said report will be circulated for inter-departmental consultation before the final proposal is placed in the Delhi Cabinet.

The Court had insisted on strict timelines for implementation of a slew of measures to free Delhi from pollution and congestion. The Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) had recommended electric buses as a viable green option other than CNG. The Court was informed by EPCA that the current fleet of public transport buses operating in the Capital was woefully inadequate and this caused denizens to take out their private cars which increments pollution.

https://www.dnaindia.com/delhi/report-delhi-1000-electric-low-floor-buses-to-be-added-by-july-2716206

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