- By Divanshi Sharma
- Thu, 15 Feb 2024 05:13 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
On Wednesday, Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off 350 electric buses, increasing the total number of such buses to 1,650. Both officials highlighted that this addition would strengthen the city's efforts to combat pollution. Among the newly added buses, 300 will join the cluster bus fleet, while the remaining 50 will be part of the Delhi Transport Corporation fleet.
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The Central government has contributed 900 electric buses out of the total 1,650 under the FAME-II Scheme to reduce vehicular pollution in Delhi and establish a strong green public transport system. These buses will be stationed at depots in Sukhdev Vihar, Rohini Sector-37 Depot-II, and Burari Bus Depot-I. All buses are low-floor and come equipped with GPS, CCTV, panic buttons, and other safety features for passengers.
“Delhi has become the first city in the country with the most e-buses and the third city globally. These buses will help control pollution in Delhi. Previously, Delhi's roads had Blue Line buses running on diesel and petrol. Then CNG buses were introduced in Delhi, and now electric buses are being introduced. Our effort is to gradually replace CNG buses with electric buses in the bus fleet,” Saxena said.
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On this occasion, Kailash Gahlot, Delhi Transport Minister said, “From 2022 until now, 1,300 electric buses have been running on Delhi's roads. These buses have covered a distance of 5.8 crore kilometres so far and the emission of 47,000 tons of carbon dioxide has been reduced in Delhi. If there were no electric buses, Delhi's environment would have emitted 47,000 tons of carbon dioxide.” “Currently, there are 7,582 buses in Delhi's bus fleet. In the coming time, Delhi's bus fleet will consist of 10,480 buses, with 80 per cent of them being electric buses... currently, 22 per cent of all buses in the fleet are electric,” he further added.
(With Inputs From Agency)