Delhi LG, CM flag off 400 e-buses; Kejriwal says city has maximum number of such buses

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said with the addition of 400 new electric buses, Delhi has become the city with the maximum number of such buses on its roads. Kejriwal, along with Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, flagged off the new electric buses from the IP Depot earlier in the day. Delhi now has a fleet of 800 e-buses. In a post on X, Saxena said these 400 buses are 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. At a press conference after the flag-off, Kejriwal urged the Centre to provide subsidy for the remaining buses that will be procured by the government. "The Centre provides subsidy on 921 Buses. On each bus, we will get a subsidy of approximately Rs 45 lakh, and accounting for 921 buses, it will be a subsidy of Rs 417 crore. "Each bus has a life cycle of 12 years. The total spending on these 921 buses would be Rs 4,091 crore of which Rs 417 (10 per cent of the total) would be provided by the Centre," he explained.

Kejriwal said the remaining 90 per cent financial burden would be incurred by the Delhi government. "In our target of 8,200 buses, we will get a subsidy on 900 new buses and earlier we got a subsidy on 300 buses from the central government. So, 1,200 buses would be on subsidy from the central government. We urge the central government to provide a subsidy on the remaining buses as well. We thank the central government for the subsidy on the 1200 buses," he said. With the addition of these 400 buses, Delhi has become the city with the most number of electric buses on its roads, the CM said. "By the end of 2023, we are positive of having 1,900 electric buses. With 1,900 electric buses, Delhi would be counted among the few cities in the world to have the most number of electric buses," he said.

"After the addition of these 1,900 buses to the fleet, we would be able to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.07 lakh tonnes every year. We have a target to complete by December 2025 -- which is to have 10,480 buses on the streets of Delhi. Among the 10,480 buses, 80 per cent, which amounts to 8,280 buses, would be electric," he added. Calling the target "extremely ambitious", the chief minister said the number of electric buses will be increased 10 times within 2.25 years. Highlighting their features, he 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.

As of now, there are only 7,135 buses on the streets of Delhi, of which 800 are electric and the remaining 6,335 buses run on CNG," he said. Kejriwal said Rs 182 crore has been spent to develop power infrastructure at bus depots for the electric buses. "These new 400 e-buses are from Tata Motors. These buses will run from Mayapuri, Nehru Place, Rohini-1, Rohini-2, and Banda Bahadur Marg depots. Besides this, the contract for 3,980 buses with zero subsidy, has been awarded and they will start coming," he said. According to officials, the government has awarded the contract for the induction of a total of 3,980 electric buses which have 1,900 (12 metres) and 2,080 (9 metres) electric buses under the National e-Bus Program (NEBP). "In the programme, the buses are procured under the Gross Cost Model without any subsidy component either by the Central Government or the Delhi Government with the latter bearing the entire cost," an official said.