The government may provide funding for procuring buses by small cities with a population of less than 10 lakh under the the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), reports indicate.
Under the mission, so far the government was funding only cities with population of at least 10 lakh. But sources from the union urban development ministry informed that the government is considering to relax the norm for the benefit of small towns.
But the funding pattern is expected to remain the same, ranging from 35-90 per cent from the centre depending on the city and the remaining has to be borne by the respective state government, reports suggest.
Besides, the union government is also expected to fund terminals and depots after the bad experience during the first-phase of the implementation where buses were found lying idle for want of adequate depots and terminals.
The sources said several cities have already ordered low floor and semi-low floor buses and they were waiting for the CentreÂ’s nod on their funding.
It may be recalled that the government earmarked Rs 4,500 crore for purchasing 10,000 new buses under the JnNURM in the 2013 Budget.
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