132-Seater Bus, Food And Hostesses: Nitin Gadkari’s Pilot Project For Nagpur

New Delhi: 

Pollution has become a huge issue in India and the thrust of the government is on promoting the use of non-polluting sources to power personal and public transportation, Nitin Gadkari has said.

In an exclusive conversation during the NDTV Infrashakti Awards on Tuesday, the Road Transport and Highways minister also said work is underway on a pilot project in Nagpur involving a 132-seater bus which will have airplane-like seating and a “bus hostess”, and will run on non-polluting sources of energy while still being cheaper than regular diesel buses. The government’s aim, he said, is for India to become a net energy exporter instead of an importer. 

“The most important problem in the country today is pollution – air, water and sound – especially for Delhi. We need import-substitute, cost-effective, pollution-free and indigenous transport solutions. We have electric vehicles… Now, Indian Oil is installing 300 ethanol pumps and automobile companies are bringing in flex vehicles. So, instead of filling petrol at ₹ 120 a litre, it is better to use ethanol at ₹ 60 per litre, with the vehicle running 60% on electricity and 40% on ethanol. This will also reduce pollution,” the minister said in Hindi.

The other thing the government is focusing on, Mr Gadkari said, is reducing the cost of public transportation. A diesel bus costs ₹ 115 a km to run while AC electric buses run at ₹ 41 and non-AC ones at ₹ 37, with subsidies. Without subsidies, this will now be between ₹ 50 and ₹ 60, he said, which will help reduce ticket prices by 15-20%.

“We are doing a pilot project in Nagpur with Tata. When I went to the Czech Republic, they have a trolley bus which is achieved by joining three buses. Our project will seat 132 people and will travel 49 km on the ring road and it will halt at the bus stop after 40 km, getting charged for the next 40 km in just 40 seconds. The cost for this is working out to ₹ 35-40 per km,” he said.