Delhi Cabinet nod to bidding for 160 low-floor buses: Gahlot

The vehicles are part of the delhi govt’s plan to add 1,000 more buses to its orange cluster bus fleet

The Delhi Cabinet on Friday approved bidding for 160 low-floor air-conditioned CNG buses, transport minister Kailash Gahlot said.

On January 6, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) approved funds for the procurement of 1,000 low-floor air-conditioned CNG buses. (Ajay Aggarwal / Hindustan Times)

“Congrats Delhi! Cabinet today (Friday) led by CM Arvind Kejriwal approved bid for 160 Low Floor CNG AC buses which will be on Delhi roads by November. These buses, fully conforming to BS-VI emission standards, will have CCTV, GPS, panic buttons. With this, our bus fleet size will grow to 6,910,” Gahlot said in a tweet.

The vehicles are part of the Delhi government’s plan to add 1,000 low-floor buses to its orange cluster bus fleet, said officials, adding that 311 such buses are already in operation and another 89 is expected to arrive by August 31.

On January 6, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) approved funds for the procurement of 1,000 low-floor air-conditioned CNG buses. According to deadlines set by the government, the buses should have arrived in six months but it got delayed because of an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases, said the official.

Delhi is supposed to get 4,000 additional buses by the end of 2022, including 1,000 standard floor buses and 1,000 electric buses.

The Cabinet nod to the bid process comes in the backdrop of a clean chit by a panel appointed by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal to the DTC over the tendering and procurement of 1,000 air-conditioned (AC) low-floor buses — an issue that was a bone of contention between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which alleged corruption in the process.