Haryana Roadways introduces CNG buses in the NCR at standard fare

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) In its ongoing drive to modernise the bus fleet, Haryana Roadways (HR) today introduced eco-friendly CNG bus service for operation between the NCR towns of Haryana and Delhi.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Transport Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala jointly flagged off the 'Haryana Uday' CNG bus service from Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi.

After the flagging off ceremony, Mr Surjewala told reporters that as per the Supreme Court orders, only CNG buses can be plied in the interior areas of Delhi and ''Haryana is the first state in the country to introduce CNG bus service in the NCR region.'' Keeping in view the long pending demand of the people, the Haryana Roadways will be adding 150 new CNG buses every year to its fleet during the 11th Five Year Plan period. These buses would ply from various NCR tows in Haryana like Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonepat, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar and Panipat to the interior areas of Delhi, he added.

Mr Surejwala informed that the replacement age of HR buses has been fixed at 7 years. As on June 30, 2006, the average age of fleet is 39.76 months, which is amongst the lowest in the country. During 2005-06, 540 buses were purchased and another 313 would be purchased during the current financial year. Each bus is costing around Rs 11.35 lakh and another Rs 5.25 lakh is spent on conversion to CNG.

He said about 5 lakh people travel everyday between Delhi and Gurgaon while passenger traffic at Faridabad, Sonepat, Bahadurgarh and Rohtak is also increasing by the day. These buses have 46 fire resistance 2X2 seats with provision for 40 standees and a single windscreen with FM radio that too at the existing standard fare without any extra charge for these new CNG buses.

State Transport Minister said Haryana Government is also entering into an agreement with Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) and Ashok Leyland Ltd (ALL) to set up driver training institutes cabaple to train 5000 drivers every year for the safety of passengers.

The Minister said to cater to the demand of the daily executive clientele, the Government has purchased 15 air conditioned buses which would be operational within six months. These BS-III CNG buses were bought at Rs 45 lakh each.

He informed that the State Government for the first time during 2005-06 spent Rs 10 crore on non-Plan side for the repair and renovation of bus stands/workshops and a similar amount has been earmarked for the current year also. Workshops of HR are proposed to be modernised by providing latest machinery, tools and plant for better upkeep of buses and an annual outlay of Rs 1 crore has been earmarked for the scheme in the Annual Plan 2006-07.

With concerned efforts and strict road safety measures, the HR has been able to steadily bring down the accident rate from 0.21 per one km in 1994-95 to 0.08 during 2004-05 and 2005-06 inspite of increase in the volume of traffic during these years.

''This rate is approximately half the average rate of accidents in all the State Road Transport Undertaking in the country,'' Mr Surjewala said.

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