All Three Hundred Sanctioned E-Buses Deployed On the Roads of Delhi

The Delhi Government, on Monday, deployed 50 new electric buses for the city. This launch brought the Government in limelight while showing its eagerness toward making the city transport sustainable.  Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of Heavy Industries mooted on the launch, stating that these buses are deployed under the Second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME Scheme).

FAME Scheme was launched in April 2015 by the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) to promote the manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles. Under this scheme various State Transport Utilities (STUs) and State Governments had placed supply orders for 3,538 Electric Buses. As of 2nd January 2023, Monday, total 1,716 electric buses have been deployed in the country.

The ministed added that 400 Electric Buses were sanctioned for Union Territory of Delhi in August 2019. Out of these 400 buses, 100 were issued to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for last Mile connectivity and 300 to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for intra city operations.

The supply orders were to be placed by 15th January 2020.  DMRC issued supply order in December 2019 to the successful Bidders whereas Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) could only issue supply order in March 2021.  To facilitate DTC, MHI extended last date of supply order by DTC 31st March 2021, as a special case for providing pollution free world class transit system to Delhi. 

As of now, total of 250 buses have already been deployed by DTC and this launch of 50 buses will cumulatively fulfil the commitment of MHI. The Central Government will be giving incentive of INR 165 Crore to DTC for these 300 Electric Buses.  

Delhi with terrible Air Quality Index and name in the list of top 10 polluted cities in the world direly needs such steps to help the citizens with air pollution. A study on electrification of transportation by researchers at the Kyushu University in Japan cued that this will reduce 74.67 percent of the total pollutant emissions from the existing bus fleet in Delhi.