Govt sanctions 670 electric buses: Javadekar

In its aim to achieve climate goals, the government today said that it has sanctioned 670 electric buses for Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Chandigarh besides 241 charging stations in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat and Port Blair under Phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (Fame) in India Scheme.

Heavy Industries Minister Prakash Javadekar, in a statement, said the decision was taken by the government “to reflect its commitment to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and address the issues of vehicular emissions and is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for eco-friendly public transportation.”

“Happy to announce sanction of 670 Ebuses in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat & Chandigarh & 241 Charging Stations in MP, TN, Kerala, Gujarat & Port Blair under Phase-II of #FAME India Scheme.This is in line with PM @narendramodi ji’s vision to push for eco-friendly public transportation,” the Minister announced in a series of tweet.

The Minister also said that “Maharashtra has been sanctioned 240 Ebuses, of which 100 Ebuses each for MSRTC’s Intercity and Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport & 40 Ebuses for Best-Mumbai.”

“100 electric buses have been sanctioned for Goa’s Kadamba Transport Corporation. These environment-friendly e-buses for the intercity services of Goa would help protect environment as well as improve mobility,” the senior BJP leader tweeted.

"250 electric buses have been sanctioned for Gujarat, of which 150 ebuses for Surat Municipal Corporation and 100 ebuses for Rajkot Rajpath Limited. Besides, the @narendramodi govt. has also sanctioned 50 Charging Stations in Surat," Javadekar further tweeted.

As many as 80 buses have been sanctioned for the union territory of Chandigarh and 25 charging stations have been sanctioned in Kollam while 27 in Thiruvananthapuram and 28 in Malappuram (all in Kerala). Besides, 10 charging stations have been sanctioned in Port Blair and 25 in Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, the minister added.

Javadekar said the setting up of charging stations is a key infrastructure necessity to promote Electric Vehicles.

The Department of Heavy Industries under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, is administering the Fame India Scheme since April, 2015 to promote the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles (xEVs) in India.

At present, Phase-II of Fame India Scheme is being implemented for a period of 3 years with effect from April 1, 2019 with a total budgetary support of Rs 10,000 crore.

This phase focuses on supporting electrification of public & shared transportation and aims to support, through subsidies, approximately 7,000 e-buses, 5 lakh e-3 wheelers, 55,000 e-4 wheeler passenger cars and 10 lakh e-2 wheelers.

In the first phase of the scheme up to March 31, 2019, about 2,80,987 hybrid and electric vehicles were supported by way of demand incentive, amounting to about Rs 359 crore.

Further, the Ministry has sanctioned 425 electric and hybrid buses to various cities in the country at a total cost of about Rs 280 crore.

It had also sanctioned 520 charging stations for about Rs 43 crore in cities like Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur and NCR of Delhi under Phase-I of FAME-India Scheme..