Cabinet nod to 1,000 AC electric buses for Delhi

New Delhi: The Delhi Cabinet on Saturday approved a proposal to add 1,000 low-floor AC electric buses to the national capital’s public transport fleet, claiming that Delhi will be the first city in the country having a large number of such vehicles.

“This is the largest such commitment so far by any Indian city and for any city outside China,” a Delhi government statement said. The cabinet took the decision at a meeting chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Delhi government is committed to providing an efficient and environment-friendly mode of public transport for the residents of the city. Creating sufficient capacity in public transport system is the only way to reduce air pollution in Delhi and bring down the number of vehicles on the roads of the national capital to reduce congestion, the statement said.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to allow the transport department to ask the prospective bidders to bring the buses with CCTV, Automatic Vehicle Tracking System (AVTS), panic buttons and panic alarms, as per the specification finalised by the government.

The cabinet also approved the proposal to authorise the transport minister for approval of all Request for Qualification and Proposals (RFQPs) under this project.