E-taxi trial run in Nagpur from May 24

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The trial run of the first electric taxi in the country will start from May 24 in Nagpur, Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.

The Minister -- here to review the ongoing construction of Eastern Peripheral Expressway - said the Nagpur Municipal Corporation will undertake the project.

"The project will be launched on May 24. We wanted to start it early but there were some problems in setting up charging stations," said Gadkari.

Along with Gadkari, the Chairperson of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Yudhvir Singh Malik, and Baghpat Lok Sabha member Satyapal Singh were present.

According to Gadkari, e-taxis will be part of the government's plan to reduce pollution. Nagpur is represented by Gadkari in the Lok Sabha.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway is expected to be thrown open by August 2017 and the two roads will divert around two lakh vehicles passing through the national capital to reduce Delhi's traffic congestion by 50 per cent beside checking its pollution.

The 135-km project, built at a cost of Rs 7,558 crore by five major construction firms on divided stretches, was started after a Supreme Court directive in 2006 to construct a ring road to by-pass Delhi for vehicles moving between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and further to other states.

Initially the project was to take 2.5 years. But following the Prime Minister's directive, the project is being constructed within 400 days.

According to Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, of the total cost, Rs 1,795.20 crore will be used for land acquisition, settlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities in parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that it passes through.

The widening work will be carried out under Engineering Procurement and Construction model of development.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway will become India's first green road to be lit entirely by solar panels and have an advanced traffic system.

The project, which commenced in May 2016, will use a million tones flyash from National Thermal Power Corp's plants to utilise waste and minimise pollution.

The Expressway passes through Sonipat, Baghpat, Gaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The proposed alignment crosses the Yamuna at Khurrampur/Khata in Uttar Pradesh and Faizpur Khadar in Haryana and crosses the river Hindon.

--IANS

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