POLLUTION

Delhi Government to Launch First of 300 Electric Buses With Special Features for Women & the Differently-Abled

New Delhi: A view of 100 new AC CNG Buses flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot at Rajghat Depot in New Delhi on Friday, January 14, 2022. (Wasim Sarvar/IANS) — Representational Image.
(Wasim Sarvar/IANS)

On Monday, after months of waiting, Delhi will get its first of 300 proposed electric buses with women-friendly and differently-abled-friendly features.

According to the Delhi government, as the name suggests, these buses will be environment friendly as they would emit zero per cent smoke and run entirely on electricity. These 12-meter-low floor AC E-buses will have CCTV cameras, panic buttons enabled to ensure women's safety and pink seats. Besides having GPS and live-tracking, these buses will have kneeling ramps for the differently-abled population.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot tweeted about the happy news this morning:

"The first prototype of the electric bus has already reached Delhi and will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday (January 17). Fifty e-buses will be inducted into DTC's fleet by the second week of February, and the target to admit 300 e-buses is likely to be achieved till April," Gahlot had said Friday while inaugurating 100 new AC CNG buses in the presence of the Chief Minister at Rajghat.

Besides being differently-abled friendly, the newly inducted low-floor CNG AC buses, launched on January 14, are fully compliant with BS-VI emission standards and are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities like a real-time passenger information system, CCTVs, panic buttons and GPS, among others.

In the month of November, the Delhi cabinet approved the induction of 190 low-floor AC CNG buses—100 of which have already been launched under its cluster scheme. The induction of those 100 buses took Delhi Transport Corporation's (DTC) fleet to an all-time high of 6,900. Before this, Delhi saw 6,000 buses in the fleet of Delhi Transport Department during the Commonwealth Games, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said Friday.

The Cabinet had further said that 300 electric buses would also be inducted into the DTC fleet by the start of 2022—a target that will likely be accomplished in April.

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The above article has been published from a wire agency with minimal modifications to the headline and text.

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