Yogi government's gift for 18 cities, over 1700 AC electric buses will run on the roads
Suspense Crime, Digital Desk : The Yogi government has taken a big decision to speed up the public transport in the cities of UP. 1725 air conditioned electric buses will be operated in the 18 cities of the state on the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model. These cities include the 17 municipal corporations of the state as well as Noida, which are Gorakhpur, Agra, Varanasi and Lucknow. From Jewar airport, too, these buses will operate. This proposal of the urban development department was approved on Wednesday by the cabinet under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The minister of urban development, AK Sharma, said that under this project, a private operator will run 1725 AC e-buses under nine-meter and 12-meter category on the city roads of 18 cities. In this scheme, the subsidy of Rs 40 lakh per 12-meter e-bus will be provided while subsidy of Rs 35 lakh per nine-meter e-bus will be available. Land will be provided free of cost by the concerned municipal corporations and Noida Authority for the construction of bus depot. Minister said that the government believes that with this private investment model, the burden on public transport will be less and the competition will increase quality of service, punctuality, punctuality and passengers amenities.
35% concession on the outstanding amounts of the vehicles
The transport department has announced to give a 35% concession on the outstanding amounts as well as 100% concession on penalty on light commercial vehicles' Rs 1,852.96 crore outstanding amounts in the state.
Electric buses will be operated in Agra, Aligarh, Ayodhya, Bareilly, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mathura-Vrindavan, Meerut, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Shahjahanpur, Saharanpur, Varanasi and Noida (including Jewar). At present, 743 e-buses are running in 15 cities with municipal corporations of the state, out of which 700 e-buses are operating on the GCC model. Keeping this experience in mind, the government has decided to expand the scheme. In the GCC model, the full responsibility for purchasing the buses, providing the charging station and drivers/technical crew, as well as their operation and maintenance will be the responsibility of the private operator. For this, the government will give the operating and maintenance charges to the operator on the predetermined performance standard. The selected operator by tender will have to sign an agreement and fare/users charge will be decided by the government.
