Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off 400 electric buses, taking the number of such buses to 800 in the national capital. The flag-off event happened at the IP Depot here. "The number of electric buses has now gone up to 800 in Delhi. I want to congratulate Delhiites on this," Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said at the flagging off event. Later in a post on X, Kejriwal explained the break of the budget outlay for the buses. "Together with the Honorable Lieutenant Governor flagged off 400 new electric buses today and dedicated them to the people of Delhi."These buses are part of the 921 buses under the subsidy scheme, for which a subsidy of Rs 417 crore has been given by the Centre and the Delhi government will spend Rs 3,674 crore," Kejriwal said in a Hindi post.
There are now a total of 800 electric buses on the roads of Delhi, which is the highest in the country, he said."Our target is to introduce a total of 8,000 electric buses on the roads of Delhi by the end of 2025. At that time there will be more than 10,000 buses in Delhi, of which 80 per cent will be electric. "Very soon Delhi will also be known all over the world for its excellent electric buses," he added.The Union Cabinet has approved a scheme to provide 10,000 electric buses to 100 cities across the country. The scheme, called the PM e-Bus Sewa, aims to improve mobility in tier II and tier III cities. The total cost of the scheme is Rs 57,613 crore.Speaking to mediapersons after the cabinet meeting, which took place earlier on Wednesday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that of 169 cities, 100 cities will be shortlisted, and 10,000 electric buses will be provided to them.The amount of Rs 57,613 crore will be provided till 2037, of which Rs 20,000 will be provided by the Centre while the remaining amount will have to be generated by states, Thakur said. As many cities lack proper public transport, the scheme will help improve connectivity as well as promote green mobility, the minister informed further. Therefore, priority will be given to cities having no organised bus service, and the scheme is expected to generate 45,000 to 55,000 direct jobs, the minister said.