The Union Ministry of Urban Development has sanctioned another 685 buses for States/UTs under JnNURM. The approval was given at a meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee on bus funding and ancillary infrastructure projects under JnNURM in New Delhi recently.
A total of 400 buses have been approved for the Union Territory of Chandigarh for the tri-city Chandigarh, Mohali & Panchkula. Approval was also given for installation of ITS (Intelligent Transport System) and a depot.
The in-principle approval has been given subject to fulfilling of certain conditions like formation of a SPV (special purpose vehicle) as insisted upon in case of all other similar approvals, a written undertaking by the UT administration that it will bear the operational losses if any and revision of fares which was last carried out in 2010.
Sudhir Krishna, Secretary, Union Ministry of Urban Development also assured that the Ministry will finance the scheme of public biking which Chandigarh plans to implement, to promote clean transport in the country.
The CSMC also approved 240 buses for Greater Shillong area of Meghalaya along with request for ITS and bus depots. The state government was also asked to give a written commitment to bear operational losses, if any. Also, it was insisted that the state should meet all the revised norms for sanction of buses. Sudhir Krishna insisted that the SPV should operate for the entire Greater Shillong Area. The state has requested for more buses for Greater Shillong Area for new routes as well as to augment the buses for existing routes.
The State of West Bengal was sanctioned additional 45 buses over and above the 632 approved in the CSMC meeting of 11th November this year. 40 additional buses have been given for Asansol Durgapur area and 5 more for Jalpaiguri Siliguri stretch.
The release of Rs 3.64 cr as third and final instalment of ACA to Mysore was also approved upon fulfilling of required conditions for purchase of buses under JnNURM sanctioned in 2009.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.