Centre okays 10,900 electric buses for five cities

New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) The Ministry of Heavy Industries on Thursday assured that approximately 4,500 electric buses will be provided to Bengaluru, 2,000 to Hyderabad, 2,800 to Delhi, 1,000 to Ahmedabad and 600 to Surat under the current phase of the PM e-Drive Scheme.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy on the rollout of electric buses.

“The session focused on the states of Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, and Gujarat—marking a strong step forward in advancing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for clean and inclusive urban transport solutions across India,” according to an official statement issued after the meeting.

“Thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is now taking bold strides toward sustainable urban mobility. From Bengaluru to Delhi, cities are actively embracing electric buses to make public transport cleaner, smarter, and more efficient,” said Kumaraswamy.

“We are not merely allocating electric buses—we are shaping the future of India’s transport system with innovation and environmental consciousness,” the Union Minister said.

“With close coordination between the Centre and states like Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, and Gujarat, we are determined to deliver on the PM e-Drive promise,” he added.

The PM e-Drive initiative aims to deploy 14,028 electric buses with a total financial outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a two-year period from April 2024 to March 2026.

The minister said the scheme represents one of the world’s largest national efforts to electrify public transport at scale and the government was committed to timely delivery, operational readiness, and strategic partnerships with all participating states.

The Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI) has also introduced E-vouchers for EV buyers to avail the demand incentive under the scheme.

Under the PM e-drive scheme an allocation of Rs 500 crore each has been done for the deployment of e-ambulances and e-trucks as well. This is new initiative of the Centre to promote the use of e-ambulances for comfortable patient transport.

Similarly, e-trucks have also been introduced under the scheme since trucks are major contributors to air pollution. To avail subsidy on e-truck submission of a scrapping certificate from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) approved vehicles scrapping centres (RVSF) has been made mandatory.

--IANS

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