Cabinet allots Rs 57,613 crore to operate 10,000 electric buses

Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, announced that the Cabinet has approved the "PM-eBus Sewa" scheme with a funding allocation of Rs 57,613 crore. In 100 cities across the nation, the programme will see the deployment of almost 10,000 new electric buses. To deploy electric bus services, the government will choose the cities through a competitive challenge mechanism.

The minister said that in 169 cities 10,000 e-Buses will be deployed and the scheme will generate 45,000-55,000 direct jobs. The estimated cost of the scheme is Rs 57,613 crore, of which Rs 20,000 crore will be provided by the Central government and the rest will be provided by state governments.

"Buses' procurement to be done under PPP mode, there’ll be competitive bidding and private players can come forward. The scheme will run till 2037," said the minister.

The cabinet has also nodded to give a boost to railway infrastructure by approving seven projects of the Ministry of Railways with estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore. As per the Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the project will add 2,339 kms to the existing network of Indian Railways.

The new railway projects will cover 35 districts in nine states, namely UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Telangana.

The proposed projects will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation.