New Delhi: In an effort to push electric mobility in the state and to encourage people to adopt greener means of transportation, the state government of Rajasthan (GoR) is planning to electrify its public transport service soon. This plan will be implemented first in the Pink City- Jaipur, as the state capital will be plying e-buses by replacing its old fleet of buses once these buses are certified as ‘unfit’.
According to Mr. Shyam Lal, Managing Director of Jaipur City Transport Service Limited (JCTSL), the proposal has been already approved by the Chief Secretary (CS) and the tender for the first set of fleets will be rolled out soon.
Also Read: With The Upcoming Launch Of FAME II, The Electric Vehicles Sector Can Expect These Five Changes
While JCTSL has not decided on the number of buses, the tender will be rolled out for the first phase, which means the electric bus service will start running in Jaipur for the intra-city commute of the public by the end of the current year. Mr. Lal said,
The proposal for plying electric buses in Jaipur was sent to the CS after being inspired by other states like Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh where the state governments have added e- buses in their fleet recently. We also want to add e-buses in our transport service as these are pollution and noise free.
According to Mr. Lal, each bus will cost Rs. 70 lakh to Rs. 80 lakh and will be procured with financial assistance from the State and the Central government under the Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Electric Vehicles (FAME), an incentive scheme for electric vehicles to encourage electric mobility in the country.
With a capacity of almost 55 passengers, these buses will be air-conditioned (AC) and will be able to run approximately 150 Km at one full charge. With a fast charger, these buses will be able to charge 100 per cent in two hours.
Mr. Lal also said that apart from planning the procurement and deployment of electric buses in the city, JCTSL is planning on building a charging infrastructure for electric buses in the state. This would include identifying spots and depots where chargers can be installed and procuring chargers backed by advanced technology that can charge buses fast.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
