‘1,000 e-buses to be rolled out in a year’

NEW DELHI: At a time when Delhi residents face daily commuting blues with the city bus fleet operating at 50% of its estimated requirement of 11,000 buses, the Arvind Kejriwal government assured the Supreme Court on Thursday that it would induct 1,000 low floor electric buses in phases from June-July 2019.
“The council of ministers headed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal gave in principle approval on July 11 for engagement of 1,000 low floor electric buses which are expected to start arriving from June-July 2019.It decided to engage Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) as consultant for the project,” the state government said in its affidavit placed before Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta.

“The time-frame for setting up charging stations for electric buses will be about 9-11 months from the date of award of contract to the concessionaire who will induct pure electric buses. This is in consonance with the policy of Delhi government to combat air pollution,” it said.
To the court’s query why funds for purchase of buses were not utilised, the Delhi government said nearly Rs 200 crore was released in 2012-13 to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) but the funds were not utilised. “Further, Rs 150 crore has been allocated in the budget estimates for the year 2018-19 for purchase of buses by DTC,” it said without elaborating on the reasons for non-utilisation of funds.
The SC had asked the government to explore the possibility of using hydrogen fuel cell buses. The Kejriwal government through advocate Wasim A Qadri said the technology was evolving and was not yet tested worldwide. It said the Union government should examine the feasibility of hydrogen fuel cell operated buses before experimenting them on Delhi roads.
“A pilot project in association with the research and development division of Indian Oil Corporation to conduct a trial run of some existing buses on HCNG fuel (a blend of hydrogen and compressed natural gas) is being worked out,” it said.
The court had sought explanation from the Delhi government as to why it was operating only 5,554 buses as against requirement of 11,000 buses, an estimate worked out in 1998. The state government said it had taken a decision on September 1 last year to induct 2,000 standard floor buses but on June 1, the Delhi High Court stayed the decision on a PIL, which pleaded that only low floor buses should be allowed to ply in Delhi. “In case the stay is vacated, 2,000 standard floor height buses will be ready for induction in the city bus fleet,” it added.
It said the Delhi cabinet on May 18 decided to procure an additional 2,000 buses by May 2020 and the DTC board on June 25 had approved procurement of 500 low floor CNG buses. However, it said to maintain a bus fleet of 11,000, the Delhi government required additional land for parking.
“The SC may appreciate that government of NCT of Delhi has made sincere efforts to augment city bus fleet but could not achieve the desired level mainly due to paucity of depot space and due to repeated failure of tenders called by DTC for procurement of buses. Disposal of matter relating to utilisation of Millennium Bus Depot being sub-judice at the moment before National Green Tribunal and allotment of more land by Delhi Development Authority will help Delhi government in achieving the target of 11,000 buses at the earliest,” it said.
The state said 10 acres each in Vasant Kunj and Rohini were allotted for bus depots. “Despite paying the entire amount to DDA for these two plots, the same has not yet been handed over to Delhi government because of litigation,” it added.