New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday flagged off 100 low floor air-conditioned buses at Rajghat depot. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the total number of buses in Delhi’s public transport bus service fleet now stands at 6,900, which is the largest ever.
At the same time, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot, who was involved in the program, said that the transport department of the city is trying to bring 300 e-buses by April. Kejriwal said, “With the addition of these 100 buses, the number of public transport buses in the fleet has increased to 6,900, which is the highest ever. Earlier during the Commonwealth Games (2010), the fleet had the highest number of around 6000 buses.
100 low-floor AC CNG buses have also been added to Delhi’s public transport fleet from today which will ply in rural areas of Delhi from Ghummanhera depot in outer Delhi. Many CNG and electric buses are also going to come in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/IhBIPq3g5j
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 14, 2022
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He said that the government is procuring many more buses including e-buses. “Due to the tender process and other formalities, it takes two to three years for new buses to arrive, it cannot happen in one night,” Kejriwal said. When our government was formed, there was a shortage of buses as new buses were not procured for many years. When we started the process of procurement, the number of buses increased.”
Kejriwal said that out of the 100 new buses, most will ply on rural routes from Gumanhera depot. “We are committed to strengthen public transport to ensure that people get buses to travel at regular intervals,” he said. Meanwhile, the Transport Minister tweeted, “Congratulations. Today we have inducted 100 more air conditioned CNG buses with BS-VI standard in our fleet.
Under the illustrious leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi will see more modern buses in the year 2022, in which 100 percent electric buses are also being included in the fleet. Gehlot said that the Chief Minister will flag off the prototype e-bus on Monday. He said that 50 more e-buses will come in the first or second week of February and efforts are on to bring 300 such buses by April.