40 electric buses to hit Chandigarh roads in September

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

To help improve the quality of air, the UT will soon get a fleet of 40 non-polluting electric buses. The UT Transport Department has tied up with a private firm to operate electric buses in the city from September this year.

Three companies had submitted bids to run 40 electric buses in the city. However, the lowest bidder, Ashok Leyland, was awarded the contract to run the environment-friendly buses for a period of 10 years on the basis of km scheme.

As per the agreement, all maintenance expenditure, bus charging stations, suspension, HVAC system and major and minor repair of the buses during the period of the contract would be the responsibility of the successful bidder. The department will pay Rs60 per km to the company.

Transport director Uma Shankar Gupta said the work had been allotted to the company and the buses were expected to hit the road in September this year.

In September last year, the Centre had sanctioned 80 electric buses for the UT under Phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme.

After getting approval from the Centre, the UT Administration started the process for the procurement of buses. Under the scheme, the Centre will provide Rs50-lakh subsidy for each bus to the seller.

The procurement of the buses will give a major boost to the plan of the UT Administration to replace its entire fleet of ordinary buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) with electric buses. At present, the CTU has 514 buses — 361 buses run on local or suburban routes and 153 buses run on inter-state routes.

In 2016, UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore had approved the proposal of the UT Transport Department to purchase 20 electric buses to fight air pollution. As the cost of purchasing the buses was Rs32 crore, the UT Administration had sought financial support from the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries, but the ministry had refused to fund the project.

In 2017, when the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries had refused to finance 40 electric buses, the UT Administration had decided to procure these buses on the basis of revenue sharing. The Administration had floated tenders for the purchase of 40 electric buses in January 2019, but it had to suspend it as the revenue had been hit hard due to the pandemic.