Thane: 42 more e-buses to enter TMT fleet

Under the Central Government's National Clean Air Initiative, 123 eco-friendly electric buses have been purchased and now the Thane Transport Administration has decided to purchase another 42 buses from the newly received funds from the Central Government.

Also, due to the contractor unable to supply 123 buses within the stipulated time, Thanekars are waiting for buses and due to this, efforts are being made at the administrative level to prevent the old contractor from participating in the tender for the supply of new buses, informed the municipal sources. There are a total of 364 buses in the fleet of Thane Municipal Transport Corporation. Among them, the initiative has its own 124 buses. So, the remaining 220 buses are being run on GGC basis through contractors.

Out of 364 buses, 300 coaches are actually available for passenger convenience. However, these buses are becoming insufficient compared to the number of passengers in the city. Due to this, the administration has started efforts for the last few years to increase the number of buses in the transport fleet. As a part of it, 123 eco-friendly buses have been purchased from the funds available under the National Clean Air Initiative of the Central Government. Out of them, only 13 buses have been able to enter. 

This year, a fund of INR 15.50 crore has been made available to the Thane Municipal Corporation under the National Clean Air Initiative from the Central Government and the Thane Transport Corporation has decided to purchase 42 more buses from this fund. Sources informed that the administration has prepared a proposal to purchase 25 buses of 9 metres and 17 buses of 12 metres and a tender will be floated for this work soon, as reported by Loksatta. 

Contractor fined

123 buses were to be introduced in the fleet of Thane transport activities in a phased manner. The transport administration had fixed a deadline for that. According to this, the contractor was to supply a total of 62 buses till January 15, 2023 and 31 till March 15, 2023. Only 13 buses have been able to enter in this period. The rest of the buses could not enter the fleet. Due to this, the Thane Transport Administration has imposed a penalty of INR 12.40 lakh on the concerned contractor, i.e. INR 20,000 per bus.