Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) aims to become one of the greenest transport operator by year 2028 as by that time, all the city buses will be non-polluting ones. For the same, the civic body is going for induction of 650 e-buses in a phased manner in the city bus fleet. As of today, it has finalised tender for buying 250 e-buses for which the then Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had sanctioned Rs 137 crore to the civic body. NMC has recently awarded the tender and expects the new electric buses to be delivered from next year onwards. NMC is running 230 electric buses already procured under PM-eBus Sewa scheme, a public-private partnership (PPP) programme that aims to increase the number of electric buses in urban centres in the country. The scheme aims to phase out polluting public transport vehicles, mostly run on diesel, and tackle the emission of harmful gases from them. These buses are operated and maintained by private parties selected by urban local bodies through competitive bidding process. For operating the new e-buses, NMC is also readying the required infrastructure at three places, namely Khapri, Wathoda and one at Koradi. Here there would be facility for parking, charging and also the maintenance these e-buses.

 

Tenders for the works were recently awarded, said Ravindra Pagey, Administrative Officer, Transport Department, NMC, adding they got delayed due to model code of conduct (MCC). He said by the time next lot of e-buses starts arriving, the charging infrastructure would be in place so that will ensure that their parking does not remain an issue. At Wathoda, about 150 e-buses holding capacity is being created while at Khapri, about 75 in first phase and subsequently it would be increased to 100. And at Koradi, about 15 buses would be charged. These depots would play an important role in e-bus transport system of NMC in future, as charging is only aspect as periodic overhaul and daily systems check would also be done at these depots. Already, the current lot of 230 e-buses are maintained by five operators in different locations on the land provided by NMC, at Hingna Road, Wathoda, Mor Bhavan, Lakadganj and Wadi. The new depots are being created under grants received by NMC from Union Government. Earlier, when diesel buses were procured by NMC under JNNURM, there was absence of designated parking space for them and hence they used to be parked by road side on North Ambazari Road. Also sometimes maintenance activities also were carried out by road side that caused inconvenience for citizens.

 

After much deliberation, NMC later identified its vacant land at Patwardhan Ground, near Yeshwant Stadium, and at Khapri where these buses are currently parked. Pagey stated, the NMC is currently processing technicalities as to floating tender for 150 buses that would be bought under PM e-bus scheme, and they would be floated by March or April 2025. Similarly, under JNNURM, 232 buses were added to NMC fleet are due for retirement as they would be completing 15-year period. According to the new policy framed by Union Transport Department, vehicles in Government establishment are to be compulsorily retired after completion of 15-year-period. These buses are fitted with CNG kits but that too is a drag on the exchequer as they require heavy maintenance. Compared to that e-buses has low maintenance and hence for the civic body it would entail savings on the expenditure on these vehicles. These 232 buses are currently being run by five transport companies and they are in contract with NMC for five-year period that will continue till 2028.