Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off 150 electric buses from the Indraprastha Depot on Tuesday.
The Delhi chief minister was accompanied by Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and chief secretary Naresh Kumar.
Kejriwal announced that the Delhi government aims to launch 2,000 more such buses within a year. He also said that the government is planning to spend Rs 1,862 crores on procuring electric buses over the next 10 years.
Three new EV charging depots built at a cost of around Rs 150 crores were also inaugurated today. Kejriwal said that this launch has marked the beginning of a new era in the transport sector, ushering in the age of more and more electric buses on Delhi's roads.
The induction of 150 electric buses equipped with state-of-art features, including CCTV cameras, panic button and GPS, into the DTC's fleet has come after almost 11 years when the public transporter procured buses on such a large number.
In addition, the government also plans to procure 600 to 700 CNG buses. The DTC board had approved the induction of 785 buses recently.
With the addition of these buses, the total number of buses in Delhi has gone up to 7,205. At the same time, the Delhi government has built three electric depots in Rohini Sector 37, Mundelakalan and Rajghat-2 to accommodate electric buses.
32 charging stations have been built in Mundela Kalan depot at a cost of Rs 24 crores. Recently, the transport department has also finalized the bid for 330 electric buses, which will be included within four to six months, the statement said.
By the end of the year, the DTC will induct 1,500 electric buses in its fleet.
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