10,000 e-buses to be deployed in 169 cities

NEW DELHI: Cabinet today approved extension of Digital India project with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The Minister said that the extended Digital India project will add on to the work done under the previous version of the scheme.
“Prime Minister in the cabinet meeting has approved Digital India programme with outlay of Rs 14,903 crore,” Vaishnaw said.
He said that under the project 5.25 lakh IT professionals will be reskilled and upskilled and 2.65 lakh persons will be trained in IT.
Under the extended Digital India project, nine more super computers will be added under the National Supercomputing Mission(NCM).
The Minister said that already 18 super computers have been deployed under NCM.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore and these will bring down the travel time for passengers, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation.
The projects covering 35 districts in nine States — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal — will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the States.
Vaishnaw said these are essential routes for transportation of varied basket of commodities such as foodgrains, fertilizers, coal, cement, fly-ash, iron and finished steel, clinkers, crude oil, lime stone, edible oil etc.
Seeking to enhance green mobility, the Union Cabinet also approved the ‘PM-eBus Sewa’ scheme under which 10,000 electric buses will be provided to 169 cities under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
The scheme would have an estimated cost of Rs 57,613 crore out of which Rs 20,000 crore will be provided by the Central Government and the remaining will be borne by states, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told a press conference.
He said priority will be given to those cities which do not have an organised bus service. The scheme would continue till 2037, the information and broadcasting minister said.
Ten thousand e-buses will be deployed under the PPP model, he said and added that infrastructure will also be upgraded in 181 cities under green urban mobility initiatives.
The scheme has two segments — augmenting city bus services in 169 cities and green urban mobility initiatives in 181 cities.
The Union Cabinet met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and approved the ‘PM-eBus Sewa’ scheme with a total outlay of Rs 57,613 crore, the Minister said.
The e-buses would be made available in cities with a population between 5 lakh and 40 lakh, he said and added that the scheme will support bus operations for 10 years.
“The cities will be selected through a challenge (for the scheme). Non-motorised transport would also be provided to help public transport in these cities,” he said.
Thakur said while 50 buses would be provided in cities with less than 5 lakh population, 100 buses would be provided in those with a population of 5 lakh to 20 lakh, and 150 buses in cities with a population of 20 to 40 lakh.