HYDERABAD: Disclosing that the Centre has allocated 2,000 electric buses to Hyderabad under the Prime Minister’s e-Drive scheme, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar called the development a significant step towards reducing pollution in the city.
A release issued on Friday stated that the state government has already introduced a comprehensive Electric Vehicle (EV) policy aimed at curbing pollution, which includes a 100% tax exemption on EVs. As part of its green public transport initiative, the Telangana government has set a target to operate a total of 2,800 electric buses within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) area of Hyderabad.
It was mentioned that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, along with Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar, had earlier met with Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy to request central assistance for electric buses.
Prabhakar expressed satisfaction that the Centre has responded positively to their appeal by allocating 2,000 buses and urged the Union government to also consider sanctioning the remaining 800 buses to meet the full requirement.
It is worth mentioning that Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, HD Kumaraswamy, on Thursday, chaired a high-level meeting to review the rollout of electric buses under the ambitious PM e-Drive Scheme, with a focus on four key states — Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, and Gujarat.
Following detailed discussions, the Ministry announced substantial allocations of electric buses to major cities, including 4,500 for Bengaluru, 2,000 for Hyderabad, 2,800 for Delhi, 1,000 for Ahmedabad, and 600 for Surat.
The scheme was launched with the goal of deploying 14,028 electric buses across India, with a financial outlay of Rs 10,900 crore for the period from April 2024 to March 2026.