In a major move to curb vehicular pollution, the Delhi Cabinet on March 26 nodded to a proposal for purchasing 300 low-floor fully electric air-conditioned buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). The purchase is being done under the Central government’s “Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles in India (FAME) phase-II” scheme.
According to a statement released by the government, the first prototype of the e-bus is expected to be received by DTC in June 2021. Of the 300 buses, the first lot of 118 buses are scheduled to arrive in October 2021 and 100 more buses being added in November 2021. Later on, 60 buses will be procured in December 2021. However, the remaining 20 buses will be procured in January 2022. Subhash Place Depot, Mayapuri Depot, Rohini-II Depot, Rajghat-II Depot, and Mundela Kalan Depot will be used to park the buses, the statement added.
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As reported by a national daily, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, “Under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, we have been taking a lot of measures to ensure sustainable and state-of-the-art transport facilities and a switch to electric non-polluting modes. In fact, electric buses are being introduced in Delhi for the first time and this is one of the largest engagements of electric buses by any state government or state transport undertaking.”
