Haryana to start CNG buses in NCR to meet competition

Chandigarh, June 27 (UNI) To keep abreast of ''Green competition'', Haryana has decided to launch a fleet of 150 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi within three months.

Transport Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala in an interaction with mediaperson here today said that in the first week of July, five CNG buses would run on trial basis on Gurgaon-Delhi-Faridabad route, which was earlier dominated by Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

For the comfort of the commuters, Mr Surjewala said that state government had placed an order for another 15 AC CNG buses for the region.

When asked about any proposal of the state government to increase the bus fares in wake of recent hike in the prices of diesel and petrol, the Minister said, ''The government has no plan till date to increase the bus fares.'' In order to improve the efficiency of the public transport system, all the buses, which were more than seven year-old had been phased out of the fleet. The average age of the fleet till May 31 was 39.4 months, the Transport Minister said.

He said that 313 new buses would be purchased in 2006-07 and in the 11th five year plan, 2641 buses would be replaced and another 900 CNG buses would be inducted in the existing fleet of 3332 buses.

The Minister said that 23 new bus stands would be built in the state and Rs 10 crore was sanctioned for the maintainance of the existing bus stands. Two new driving schools would be established in the state with the help of Ashok Leyland and Maruti, he added.

He said that efforts were also being made to improve the efficiency of the bus drivers and conductors for which a new orientation course would be started. The efforts would help further reduce the rate of accidents which was already among the lowest in the country with .08 per one lakh kilometer.

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