Moving ahead with implementing its e-vehicle policy, the Delhi government announced Rs 100 crore for a state electric vehicle fund in its 2019-20 budget, presented in the assembly on Tuesday. Presenting the budget, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia proposed an outlay of Rs 1,807 crore for implementation of various schemes, programmes and projects of the transport department in 2019-20. "This allocation is almost double the revised estimate of 2018-19," Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, said.
He said vehicles contribute to approximately 40 per cent emission of PM 2.5 in Delhi. Working to resolve the problem, the government has formulated a draft electric vehicle policy to promote the use of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in Delhi, Sisodia said. "Under this policy, our efforts are to have 25 per cent share of BEVs among newly registered vehicles by 2024. I am proposing Rs 100 crore for constituting the State Electric Vehicle Fund in 2019-20," he said in the House.
The Delhi government has also earmarked Rs 50 crore from the fund of environment compensation charge for the state electric vehicle fund, he said. The deputy chief minister said the government is endeavouring to strengthen the public transport system by adding 4,000 new buses, including 1000 e-buses, under the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the cluster scheme run by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal System.
The process to procure 1,000 low-floor AC electric buses has started, Sisodia said. "I am happy to inform that these buses will be operational in different phases from the next financial year," he said. Currently, the DTC runs 3,882 buses on 557 routes carrying about 31 lakh passengers per day. Over 12 lakh passengers used 1,789 cluster buses daily. The budget also allocated Rs 150 crore for construction of bus depots and terminals and Rs 50 crore for 1397 new bus queue shelters in the city.
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