Tamil Nadu to add 1,300 more buses this year

The new buses are expected to replace the old and the total outlay is around Rs 270 crore, says CM

The Government of Tamil Nadu is planning to buy 1,200 buses and 100 small buses for a total outlay of around Rs 270 crore, in order to modernise its bus fleet in the State.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said that the government is planning to modernise the bus fleet of State Transport Corporations (STCs) by adding new buses instead of the old buses.

The government would spend around Rs 253.8 crore during the current fiscal year to add around 1,200 buses, she said. Another 100 mini-buses to serve the people to commute in the smaller roads where normal buses would not be feasible. The government would spend around Rs 16.75 crore on the mini-buses, she said.

The total fleet strength STCs at present is 22,501 buses. In order to recover the 544 buses confiscated by the Court for not paying compensation to the accident victims, the government is also planning to allocate Rs 39.73 crore to the STCs.

According to the government documents, in the year 2014-15, the Government has provided Rs 500 crore to meet out the additional financial commitment due to diesel price hike to State Transport Undertakings. It may be noted that the State government has provided the same amount to meet out the additonal financial commitment of the State Transport Undertakings in 2013-14 also.