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Nagpur: As the Second Capital City of Nagpur gears up to turn into a ‘Smart City,’ the arrival of 55 Green Buses in the next three months could be in the right direction. The environment-friendly buses would run on city roads as the State Government has given its seal of approval to the NMC proposal and even handed over a letter to the civic body in this regard. Now, the tendering process has commenced for facilitating running of Green Buses in city in the year 2016. Citizens will also experience a comfortable journey in the state-of-the-art buses likely to be purchased from Sweden’s Scania Company.
After the BJP stormed to power at Centre, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) started the first ethanol-run air-conditioned bus in city on experimental basis, first time in India. The bus received overwhelming response. The project was a path-breaker for the country. The Mayor Pravin Datke recently met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in connection with running of Green Buses. And after the fruitful discussion, the Mayor directed starting of tendering process for acquiring the environment-friendly buses.
The first Green Bus last year was run between Sanvidhan Chowk (RBI Square) and Khapri on an experimental basis. Now, 55 more such buses are coming to city forcing the planners to draw a blueprint on the number of routes these buses would run. The Swedish truck and bus major Scania’s Indian subsidiary Scania Commercial Vehicles India Private Limited has commenced manufacturing of state-of-the-art buses at its Bengaluru facility. The bus will have sitting capacity for 37 passengers. 12 persons can travel standing. In the coming next three months, the Green Bus will start running on the routes that are not operated by Star Bus or the routes on which a number of private engineering, medical colleges and private schools are situated in the outskirts of city.
“Nagpur city is well-stocked of ethanol. Therefore, there would not be any hitch in running the environment-friendly buses on the stuff,” said a NMC official.
Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha ( rajeev.nagpurtoday@g
