Electric bus project caught funding and approval delays

Ludhiana: Months after the MC completed the process of estimates of bus depots for 100 e-buses and submitted a report with the Govt of India, there is no sign of the buses arriving anytime soon. Civic officials are still waiting for a nod from the central govt for electric buses under the PM E Bus Sewa programme. Funds for the development of infrastructure before deployment of e-buses are yet to be released.
The bus depots are to be developed at Hambran Road and Ghoda Colony. During a recent meeting, a few objections were raised about elements of the upgrade plan of the bus depots, for which most of the funds have to come from the Centre.
Officials said that they had held discussions with officials of the central govt and had received all approvals from the state govt. They said that making changes at this stage would be difficult and added that tenders for bus depots would be floated as soon as they received funds.
MC superintending engineer Sanjay Kanwar said, "We are waiting for the final nod from the govt for the funds, after which we will proceed with the tender process. It is necessary to provide infrastructure first, only then can buses be demanded."
Meanwhile, the existing city bus service will be wound up after Feb 26, when MC officials take the remaining buses back from the contractor. As of now, 15 buses ply on two routes while the others are already closed.
Since officials lack clarity on the bus service, the issue will be discussed in a meeting of the board of directors. Officials are considering the possibility of hiring a contractor for the short term and running these buses till the arrival of electric buses.
Launched in 2011 with 120 buses, the bus service is flailing. Officials gave 83 buses to the contractor and only 15 are left with him. The MC took some of the buses back already, but now they are unable to make any decision about them. There are chances that these buses will also be reduced to scrap like the 37 buses dumped at Tajpur Road depot earlier.
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