A worker gives water to the under-construction Mausam River bridge on a recent evening as two MSRTC buses pass on the adjacent alternative way. (Pic: The Voice of Malegaon)
The Maharashtra government has given approval to release of Rs 390.60 crore in cash for the ambitious ‘modernisation of bus stands and provision of other facilities’ program. With the release of these funds, select bus stands in the state are set to undergo complete transformation and receive facilities which were not available on their premises earlier.
The program has in its crosshairs works like modernisation of bus stands, their reconstruction if it was required, buying of new buses, setting up of charging stations for buses running on electricity system, and a separate supplementary provision for hiring electric vehicles on the lease basis.
For 5,200 electric buses, there was a target of setting up 174 charging stations across the state. As of now, only 10 charging stations have been put in place and are currently operational. There was a shortage of funds for setting up the rest of the charging outlets. With the release of Rs 360.90 crore, the state government was making available funds for the remaining charging stations under the project. It must be noted that Rs 390 crore was for these charging stations only, Abhijeet Bhosale, PRO, MSRTC
In November last year, the Vice-President and Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) had written to the state government requesting the authorities concerned to release on an urgent basis Rs 390.60 crore of the total budgetary allocation of Rs 1,953 crore for the state road transport entity.
On this request, the state government has given green signal to the finance department for release of Rs 390.60 crore for speedy implementation the ‘modernisation of bus stands and provision of other facilities’ program. The said funds will be included in the budgetary allocation of Rs 1,953 crore for the MSRTC for the financial year 2023-24.
“The MSRTC was considering to introduce electric buses for quite some time now. For this purpose, there was urgent need for setting up charging stations at some identified bus stands. For turning this plan to reality, there was need for funds. The state government has now given approval to the proposal (sent by the MSRTC) for the same,” said Deepak Ramraje, who is having temporary charge of Malegaon Bus Stand.
