New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) After months of waiting, Delhi will get its first of the 300 proposed electric buses with women and differently-abled-friendly features on Monday.
"Happy to share that Hon'ble CM @ArvindKejriwal will flag off the 1st Electric Bus on Delhi roads today at 12 Noon from DTC IP Depot," Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot tweeted this morning.
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 fully on electricity. These 12-meter-low floor AC, E-buses will have CCTV cameras, panic buttons enabled to ensure women safety as well as pink seats. Besides having GPS and live-tracking, these buses will have kneeling ramps for the differently-abled population.
"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.
The induction of these 100 buses took Delhi Transport Corporation's (DTC) fleet to an all-time high of 6,900. Prior to this, Delhi saw 6,000 buses in the fleet of Delhi Transport Department during the Commonwealth Games, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said Friday. In the month of November, the Delhi cabinet had approved the induction of 190 low-floor AC CNG buses -- 100 of which have already been launched, under its cluster scheme.
The Cabinet had further said that 300 electric buses will also be inducted into the DTC fleet by the start of 2022 -- a target which is likely to get completed in April.
The AAP on Wednesday named veteran leader Sanjay Singh, businessman Sushil Gupta and chartered accountant Narain Dass Gupta as its debutants for the Rajya Sabha, sparking criticism from founding member Kumar Vishwas and other political parties.
A minor boy was killed in Nanded and several people were injured in Mumbai in sporadic incidents of violence which paralysed large parts of Maharashtra during a 10-hour shutdown called by Dalit parties on Wednesday.
A day after joining investigation, Inderpreet Singh Chadha, son of former Chief Khalsa Diwan president Charanjit Singh Chadha, reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself in Amritsar on Wednesday.
The incident happened Monday evening when Galmit Sangma, 25, entered the house of Barning Marak in New Rongara and attacked the mother and child, the police said.
Senior Congress leader and MLA Asha Kumari, who was booked under Sections 353 and 332 of the IPC for allegedly slapping a lady constable on duty, filed a counter complaint today, officials said.
