Nagpur: The first double-decker electric bus is going to make a debut in Nagpur on September 16. The bus is going to be dedicated in a ceremony by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The ‘green bus’ is manufactured by Ashok Leyland and is booked by Jyeshtha Nagrik Pratisthan. Datta Meghe, ex-MP, and President, Jyeshtha Nagrik Pratisthan, is going to preside over the programme.
Mahesh Babu, CEO, Switch Mobility; Yash Sachar, Vice President (Corporate Affairs), Ashok LeyLand Limited; A K Sinha, Head, West and Central Zone; Chandrashekhar Bawankule , President, BJP, Maharashtra Unit; MLAs Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbare and Mohan Mate; MLC Praveen Datke; will also be present along with host of other dignitaries.
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Wednesday 15 Jan. 2025
This bus has been donated to Jyeshtha Nagrik Pratisthan under the CSR initiative of Ashok Leyland. This double-decker green bus will be used for free travel of senior citizens to religious places and tourist places on behalf of Pratisthan. The Pratisthan already has a green bus of Olectra Company and this bus is in the service of senior citizens for the last five years. The Secretary, Raju Mishra, informed that these two buses were brought to the senior citizens due to the efforts of Gadkari.
This double-decker green bus of Ashok Leyland Company is air-conditioned and has a seating arrangement for 65 passengers. Running on advanced lithium-iron batteries, the bus can run 250 km in one and a half to three hours of charging. This double-decker bus is 4.75 meters in height, 9.8 metres in length and 2.6 metres in width.
Meanwhile, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has forwarded a proposal to Maharashtra Government for allotting 150 electric buses under the Central Government’s PM E-Bus Scheme. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, had announced the launch of the PM E-Bus Scheme where it is going to procure 10,000 e-buses. The move is aimed at phasing out buses running on conventional fuel that is a major cause of pollution. The e-buses proposal was cleared by Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Dr Abhijeet Chaudhary and forwarded to Urban Development Department for further processing.
As per the procedure, NMC has to submit a formal proposal to the State Government that will then submit a comprehensive demand of all cites to the Central Government. NMC provides city transport service ‘Aapli Bus’ and at present they have a fleet of 528 buses. This includes 362 diesel buses such as 167 standard, 150 Midi and 45 mini, as well as 70 retrofitted CNG buses and 96 e-buses.
At present, the policy of shifting the public bus service from conventional diesel fuel to non-conventional fuel is being implemented by the Transport Department of NMC. Under this, e-buses have been included in the fleet of ‘Aapli Bus’. Apart from tackling the pollution, the NMC is also going to save a lot on fuel after switching over to electric buses. Plus the regular repair bill is also going to reduce drastically.
NMC will get 150 e-buses on the basis of population (20 to 40 lakhs). In urban areas for running them on PPP model, here a private operator is going to be provided money on a per kilometre basis for a period of 10 years or till March 2037, whichever is earlier. The State Government is going to stand guarantee for payment to operators running city buses. Around 60 percent of the project cost for infrastructure development of bus depots will be provided to the city for a sanctioned number of e-buses till March 2027. The civic body will provide land for depot development and it will receive 100 percent funding for electricity infrastructure from Centre by March 2027, as per criteria to be decided in consultation with the Union Ministry of Power.
