Centre sanctioned Rs 35 cr for Himachal to buy e-buses: Bali

Centre has sanctioned Rs 35 crore to the Himachal Pradesh government for purchasing 25 environment friendly electric-buses in order to check pollution level in the state.
"Himachal Pradesh has been sanctioned Rs 35 crore by the Centre to purchase 25 environment-friendly e-buses making it the first state to get money for the project," state Transport Minister G S Bali said today.
The minister said that the amount has been sanctioned under funding ratio of 75:25 between Centre and state. However, since the state falls under special category, he would meet his counterpart at the Centre to modify the ratio to 90:10.

"Tendering process to buy the buses has started and would be over soon. Each unit is estimated tocost around Rs 1.75 crore and would need charging stations at every 75 km. All district bus stands shall have charging stations," he said.
Trials of electric-buses have been successfully conducted in Shimla, Nalagarh and Solan, the minister said, adding 15 more Volvo buses are being included in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) fleet.
"Beside this,HRTC is discarding 647 buses which are more than 10 years old, and 300 new buses (including 150 small buses for difficult areas) shall be purchased. Tender process will start after the ongoing panchayat polls," Bali said.

HRTC will connect Shimla to all district headquarters with at least one AC bus service. All the 18 bus stands of the state shall start ATM service from February 1 and shall have CCTV cameras and LED lights for the safety of the passengers, he said.
The 24X7 passengers complaint system, already available for HRTC passengers, shall be extended to those travelling in private bus passengers from next month, Bali added.