Greenpeace India urges Delhi govt to spend more on free public transportation, number of buses

Urging to consider increasing spending on free public transportation facilities and the number of buses in the city, Greenpeace India has shot a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

This comes days before the Delhi Assembly’s budget session, which is set to begin on March 17.

Besides, the environment watchdog also urged the government to provide tax concessions to all public transport systems including para-transit and levy road charges for big cars (SUVs) with less than three passengers.

“According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ benchmark, cities need 60 buses per one lakh population. Based on this benchmark, Delhi needs at least 15,000 buses for its 20.57 million people, but there are only around 7,000 buses in the city,” it said.

Greenpeace India said that more buses should be procured on a priority basis and the government should have a target of procuring at least 11,000 by 2023.

Electric buses powered by renewable energy should be prioritised while augmenting the fleet size, it said.

The environment watchdog also urged the government to increase spending on free travel facilities.

“The Delhi government is spending around Rs 216 crore on free travel facilities for women. This amount needs to increase and the government should provide an additional Rs 200 crore to extend the scheme for free bus travel to cover all children, people with disability, senior citizens, trans community, students and all bus users at least on certain specified days per week,” it said.

Greenpeace India also urged the government to ensure that bus stops have basic amenities like toilets, public announcement and information display systems, and CCTV cameras.