Andhra Pradesh: Centre's green signal to RTC e-buses

Amaravati: The Central government accorded permission to the State-owned Road Transport Corporation to introduce 100 electric buses in Tirupati in the first phase, according to managing director of APSRTC Dwaraka Tirumala Rao.

The State Government planned to operate 350 electric buses in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Kakinada and Tirupati, Tirumala Rao said in a statement here on Friday. Tenders were called to procure the buses but the rate proposed by the two bidders was very high and the government dropped the idea to run electric buses in Vijayawada Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Guntur. However, the rate to run 50 buses in Tirupati to Tirumala and 50 more buses to the neighbouring districts of Kadapa, Nellore, Madanapalli and Renigunta was reasonable and on par with the rates of Indra bus services. The government agreed to the proposal and submitted it to the Centre since the Centre needs to give some subsidy on the buses. Finally, the Centre gave permission and the EVE Trans owned by Megha Engineering and Infra Ltd would be given orders to run the buses. The electric buses would run from Tirupati to other designated towns. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy would launch the electric bus services soon.