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A Welcome Change: Tier 2, 3 Cities Might Have Improved Bus Transport Soon
Writer: Ratika Rana
Her primary objective is to inform, promote, educate and cultivate readers through writing.
India, 14 Feb 2022 7:28 AM GMT
Editor : Snehadri Sarkar |
While he is a massive sports fanatic, his interest also lies in mainstream news and nitpicking trending and less talked about everyday issues.
Creatives : Ratika Rana
Her primary objective is to inform, promote, educate and cultivate readers through writing.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has planned to implement an Rs 18,000 crore scheme that the finance minister proposed last year, to augment bus services in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is set to implement a scheme worth Rs 18,000 crores that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the last year's budget. The project aims to augment the bus transport service in tier 2 and 3 cities mainly. Ministry officials aware of the plan have said it has been put up for inter-ministerial consultation. The improvement of buses would be undertaken in a public-private partnership manner, and the states would pull in private concessionaires for it. The concessionaire would provide the buses, and after that, would be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance.
Aims To Improve Infrastructure In Small Cities
The government would provide the private concessionaire with gross cost contracts for a fixed period. Hindustan Times quoted an official, "The concessionaire will be paid on a per-kilometre basis. The initial plan has been shared for inter-ministerial consultation and with other stakeholders for comments. The plan is in the initial stages. It will be finalised based on the inputs we get during the consultative process". The scheme aims to improve the infrastructure of small cities with either an inadequate transport system or those in which transport is unorganised.
'Only Rs 18,000 Crores Not Enough'
Under the Ministry of Power, the Convergence Energy Services Limited and a wholly-owned subsidy of Energy Efficiency Services floated a tender worth Rs 5,500 crores to procure a total of 5,580 electric buses. In the first phase, the proposal included 130 double-deckers and 5,450 single-decker electronic buses for Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Surat. Prasanna Patwardhan, the President of Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India, said huge investments were being made in developing metro corridors. Still, just 18000 crores have been allocated for the augmentation of the bus system.
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