The central government has announced Guwahati among 11 cities selected for a pilot project of multi-modal electric public transport under the second phase of FAME India scheme.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Union minister of state for road transport and highways, Mansukh Mandaviya informed that the government has announced the launch of public and shared transportation based on electric power train, through a system of Expression of Interest (EoI) issued on October 31, 2017.
Under this EoI, a grant of up to Rs 105 crore per city with million-plus population and special category states, was proposed to be extended by the central government through demand incentives in combinations of electric buses, electric 4-wheeler passenger cars and electric 3-wheelers.
The government is targeting a fully electric fleet for public transport, including buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws under the second phase of FAME India scheme.
The government has sanctioned a total of 390 buses, 370 taxis and 720 three-wheelers:
- The nine big cities (Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore and Kolkata) will be given subsidy for 40 buses each, while Jammu and Guwahati will get subsidy for 15 buses each.
- Kolkata will get subsidy for 200 e-taxis, followed by Bangalore (100 taxis), Indore (50 taxis) and Ahmedabad (20 taxis).
- Bangalore will get subsidy for 500 three-wheelers, followed by Indore for 200 three-wheelers and Ahmedabad for 20 three-wheelers.
In response to the EOI, the government received 47 proposals from 44 cities across 21 states having requirement of 3,144 buses, 2,430 e-four wheeler taxis and 21,545 e-three wheeler autos.
After evaluating the proposals, 11 cities were selected for funding under the present EOI as the pilot project for multi-modal electric public transport which included Guwahati as one of the cities.
To augment charging infrastructure for public transport, the funding for setting up of the charging infrastructure with a ceiling of Rs 15 crore per city was also proposed for the selected cities.
