50 electric buses to be introduced in Gurugram

Gurugram: In a bid to clean Gurugram's polluted air, Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) will go ahead and buy 50 electric buses which will be added to the Gurugaman fleet. The Central Government will aid the Gurugram public agency in this purchase. Gurugram is the only city in Haryana to get electric buses under the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries' FAME-India scheme. According to an official of GMCBL, the department had applied for 100 electric buses, of which 50 have been approved by the ministry. "New buses will take at least six months to be added to the fleet," the official said.

To push clean mobility, the ministry of heavy industries has sanctioned funds to buy 5,595 electric buses in 64 cities. Of 5,595 buses, 5,095 will ply as intra-city and 400 as inter-city buses. As many as 100 buses will be given to DMRC for last-mile connectivity. "These buses will help in saving petrol and diesel and also check CO2 emission," said Chandrashekhar Khare, the CEO of GMCBL. The fleet of electric buses will ply on five routes, which have not been identified yet, and will be operated from a depot in Sector 48.

Charging facility will be available at the depot and two other hubs in the city. The cost will be shared by the Centre and the statement in a 40:60 ratio. After receiving the funds, GMCBL is expected to issue the tender for the e-buses. At present, GMCBL is running 81 non-air-conditioner CNG buses on seven routes of the city and the authority is planning to have 500-strong bus fleet and 25 routes in the city.

Taking cognisance of the increased vehicular pollution, the Gurugram administration will now invest in electric vehicles. To begin with, an order of 12 vehicles have already been tendered by Gurugram metropolitan development authority (GMDA) officials who will then phase out the vehicles that are mostly operated on diesel.