Delhi CM flags off 150 electric buses, announces 3-day free ride
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 May, 2022 12:32 PM
New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off 150 electric buses from the Indraprastha Depot and also announced free travel in these buses for the next three days.
Kejriwal along with Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot also took a ride on board an electric bus from the Indraprastha Depot to Rajghat after flagging off the fleet.
"Today is a happy day, I am happy and hope the people of Delhi are also happy. Today 150 electric buses have hit the roads of Delhi. I also took a short ride in the bus. These are beautiful and luxurious buses," Kejriwal said.
"We have made the ride free for the next three days. Take a ride around the city and enjoy. The electric buses will also reduce pollution."
He also announced that 150 more buses will join the fleet after one month.
"The capital city needs total 11,000. Today we have achieved the 7,200 mark, which is the largest number of buses in the history of Delhi. We will also buy 600-700 CNG buses as production of electric buses is very less now. The target is to have 2,000 electric buses on the roads of Delhi in a year" the Chief Minister added.
On the appointment of Vinai Kumar Saxena as the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Kejriwal said they will work together for the development of Delhi.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
The highest quantity has been procured from Punjab (1,86,85,53 MT) followed by Chhattisgarh (67,65,986 MT) and Telangana (65,54,739 MT) while the highest number of farmers benefitted in are Chhattisgarh (16,90,459), Telangana (9,67,134) and Punjab (9,24,299).
