JAMMU, July 30:
The city of temples, Jammu, is eagerly anticipating the arrival of a strong fleet of a hundred (100) electric buses (e-buses) from Karnataka in early August. These e-buses are part of the ambitious Smart City Project in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), with the UT procuring 200 e-buses in total, 100 for each of the cities – Jammu and Srinagar.
Rahul Yadav, Commissioner of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jammu Smart City Limited, confirmed the imminent arrival of the e-buses to Rising Kashmir. He mentioned that the buses are expected to start reaching Jammu within a few days, although he refrained from specifying an exact date due to various logistical factors involved in transportation.
The 200 e-buses are being manufactured in Dharwad, Karnataka, as part of an agreement between the J&K government and Tata Motors, which spans over 12 years. According to the terms of the agreement, the J&K government will pay Rs 55.62 per kilometer for 12-meter long buses and Rs 47 per kilometer for 9-meter long buses. Each 9-meter long e-bus costs Rs 1.25 crore, while the 12-meter long e-bus costs Rs 1.5 crore. The e-buses will be distributed equally, with 100 buses earmarked for both Jammu and Srinagar. The payment will be based on the distance covered by the buses over the 12-year period and not as a one-time payment.
This development marks the first time that fully air-conditioned e-buses will operate on the roads of J&K under the ‘Gross Cost Contract Model’, a model already adopted in different metro cities across the country. The 100 air-conditioned e-buses destined for Jammu will serve key routes, including Jammu to Kathua, Jammu to Udhampur, and Jammu to Katra. To accommodate the new fleet, a state-of-the-art bus depot is currently under construction at Bhagwati Nagar, Jammu.
