Delhi Budget: Transport outlay cut as govt sharpens EV focus

Tabling the budget, finance minister Atishi said that to expand the bus network, a concession agreement for 1,900 new electric buses has already been signed.

The budget allocated to the transport sector, including spends on public transport, for the next financial year is pegged at ₹5,702 crore, according to Delhi’s finance minister Atishi who presented what will be the last full budget of the administration before the Lok Sabha elections due next month and the assembly polls likely to be held in early 2025.

Experts said that while the EV push is welcome, more effort is required to electrify the commercial fleet. (HT Photo)

According to budget documents, the allocation is a considerable drop from the ₹8,309 crore set aside for the sector as per the revised estimates of the capital outlay for the 2023-24 financial year. The revised estimates in themselves are significantly higher than the BE of ₹5,903 crore that the government had set aside before the financial year when it announced the budget last year. But even accounting for the BE for the 2023-24 financial year, the allocation for the next fiscal is lower.

Presenting the budget on Monday, Atishi said that to expand the bus network, a concession agreement for 1,900 new electric buses has already been signed and proposed an outlay of ₹510 crore for electric buses.

The figures disclosed by the minister, however, vary from the calculations determined via the documents, since some small part of the spends on transportation may also be filed under different heads.

“I am pleased to share that with a fleet of 1,650 e-buses, Delhi is now ranked third among the world’s cities. Today, Delhi has a remarkable fleet of 7,582 buses, the highest in the history of Delhi, which is being used by over 41 lakh (4.1 million) passengers daily. Additionally, we will procure 2,080 nine-metre e-buses, which will be used as Mohalla buses for last-mile connectivity... by 2025, Delhi will have more than 10,000 buses, out of which 80% will be electric buses,” Atishi said.

The Mohalla bus scheme was first proposed last year as a last-mile connectivity option by the then transport minister Kailash Gahlot. It was proposed last year that starting with 100 fully electric Mohalla buses in 2023-24, a total of 2,180 Mohalla buses will be operational in the next three years to “fix this critical gap in last-mile connectivity in Delhi”.

However, the scheme is yet to be implemented. Officials from the transport department said that following the sacking of over 300 consultants last year, several new schemes including, the Mohalla bus scheme and aggregator policy, were delayed and missed their initial targets.

The budget proposes ₹340 crore this financial year to continue the scheme of free bus travel for women in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses through “pink tickets”. The government is also planning to begin work on Phase 4 of the Delhi Metro soon. “An MoU will be signed for the construction of three corridors — namely Janakpuri West to RK Ashram; Delhi Aerocity to Tughlakabad; Majlis Park to Maujpur. There will be 45 stations on these three corridors totaling 65.20km,” Atishi added.

In 2024-25, an outlay of ₹500 crore is proposed for Delhi Metro. By March 2015, 193 kilometers of metro rail network and 143 metro stations were established in Delhi. However, in the past nine years, the Delhi Metro network has doubled in length, reaching 393km, and the number of stations has increased to 288.

Experts said that while the EV push is welcome, more effort is required to electrify the commercial fleet. “Electrification of transport is an urgent need for Delhi. It is great to see that commitment from the Delhi government. It will be important to also see how can Delhi start the electrification of trucks as well. This is an essential step towards reducing pollution levels in the Capital,” said Amit Bhatt managing director (India), International Council of Clean Transport.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the AAP of not making any major announcement in the budget.

“Last year, Delhi government budget spoke of bringing Mohalla buses but a year later not a single Mohalla bus has come. There is no major announcement to improve public transport sector in the city, which is desperately needed,” Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva.