Delhi L-G VK Saxena and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off 400 electric buses, taking the number of such buses to 800 in the national Capital. The flag-off happened at the Indraprastha Bus Depot.
In a post on X, Saxena said these 400 buses were the first tranche of the 1,500 electric buses being provided by the Centre under the FAME-II scheme for creating a robust and green public transport infrastructure in Delhi. “Of the 1,500 buses under this scheme, 921 buses are being provided with FAME-II subsidy of Rs 416.82 crore borne by the Central Govt. For the remaining 579 buses, GNCTD will bear the subsidy of Rs 262.04 crore,” he said in a series of posts. “These electric buses will go a long way in fighting and mitigating air pollution in the city, besides providing comfortable & safe transport to the people of Delhi,” he said.
Later in a post on X, Kejriwal explained the break up of the budget outlay for the buses. Weighing upon the finance incurred by the Government, Kejriwal stated, “The Central Government provides subsidy on 921 Buses. On each bus, we will get a subsidy of approximately Rs.45 lakhs, and accounting for 921 buses it will be a subsidy of Rs. 417 crores. Each bus has a life cycle of 12 years.
“The total spending on these 921 buses would be Rs 4091 crores of which Rs 417 (10% of the total) would be provided by the Central Government.
“The remaining 90% financial burden would be incurred by the Delhi Government. Our target is to introduce a total of 8,000 electric buses on the roads of Delhi by the end of 2025. At that time there will be more than 10,000 buses in Delhi, of which 80 per cent will be electric. “Very soon Delhi will also be known all over the world for its excellent electric buses.”
“The number of electric buses has now gone up to 800 in Delhi. I want to congratulate Delhiites on this,” Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said at the flagging off event. Highlighting their features, Kejriwal said the buses can run up to 225 km on a single charge, have ramps for the differently abled, and are equipped with CCTV cameras and panic buttons for women’s safety.
“These buses provide two-way communication with the control room and each bus has a GPS unit for live tracking. The buses are equipped with disc brakes, and fire detection and suppression systems,” he said.
