Over 3K buses to be inducted by next May to augment public transport, Delhi govt tells SC

The Delhi government informed the Supreme Court on Monday that 3,035 buses, including 1,385 low floor AC and electric ones, will be inducted by next May to augment the public transport system in the national capital.

In an additional affidavit filed in the apex court, the Delhi government said that the process of inducting 1,000 standard floor non-AC CNG cluster buses with hydraulic lifts, for differently-abled persons, will start this month and would be completed in February 2020.

"First lot of buses has been registered. Operation likely to start in August 2019 and to be completed in February 2020. The slight delay is due to delay on the part of manufacturers in meeting the specifications of CCTV," the affidavit said.

Regarding induction of 385 low floor AC electric cluster buses, the government said that the process of opening of bids is on.

"Bids were to be received and opened on August 2, 2019. However, in view of the decision of the Government of India to reduce GST in electric vehicles, this date has been extended for seven days i.e. up to August 9, 2019," it said, adding that full induction would be completed by April 2020.

It said that on July 11, Delhi cabinet has approved procurement of 1,000 low floor AC buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the roll out would begin from January 2020 and would be completed by April 2020.

The affidavit said that Delhi cabinet has given approval on July 11 for procurement of 650 low floor AC CNG cluster buses and its induction would start from January 2020 and the process would be completed in May 2020.

Regarding 350 low floor AC CNG cluster buses, the Delhi government said that the earlier tender was unsuccessful as only one bid was received on July 19.

It said now a proposal has been submitted to bifurcate this cluster into two parts and to call for fresh tenders.

The affidavit said that on July 2, DTC applied to the Union Department of Heavy Industry for grant of subsidy to procure 1,000 low floor AC electric buses under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) phase-II scheme.

"The proposal for engagement of these buses shall be placed for concurrence of the Delhi cabinet after approval of the Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India," it said.

The matter came up for hearing on Monday before a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta and the counsel appearing for the Delhi government apprised the court about the process of procurement of these buses.

The bench, after perusing the affidavit, asked the Delhi government to act upon it.

Regarding DTC's proposal to Department of Heavy Industry for grant of subsidy to procure 1,000 low floor AC electric buses under the FAME-II scheme, the bench asked the Centre to take a decision on it within four weeks.

The issue of public transport system has cropped up as the apex court is hearing a matter related to pollution in the Delhi-national capital region (NCR).