Govt push to boost urban mobility

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the PM e-Bus Seva Scheme, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said at a press briefing on on Wednesday.

A total of Rs 57,613 crore has been allotted to the scheme, he said. Of this, the Centre will provide Rs 20,000 crore and the balance will be paid for by the state governments. As part of the scheme, "around 10,000 new electric buses will be provided across the country", Thakur told reporters in New Delhi. The buses will be rolled out in a total of 100 cities, he added.

The cities where the buses will be rolled out are to be selected through a "challenging method", and one of the selection criteria is that their population should be above 3 lakhs, the minister noted.

The scheme will be executed under the public private partnership model (PPP), Thakur further said, adding that the government will support the operation of e-buses "for 10 years".

Among the leading private players in the country's e-bus mobility segment are Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Olectra Greentech and JBM Auto. "This is a momentous decision that sees e-mobility as a necessity for much of India and especially at a time when the country has committed towards being Net Zero by 2070 and is presiding G-20...The momentum gained from this move will catapult India as the EV capital of the world," JBM Auto managing director Nishant Arya said.