<p class="title">Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)’s plan to lease electric buses, a matter that should have been decided within weeks at the board level, has reached the Chief Minister’s office. This follows allegations of corruption levelled by the Transport Minister.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Over an year after BMTC invited tenders for leasing electric buses, the project is stuck in a quagmire. Officials opted to lease the buses instead of buying them due to challenges posed by the new technology.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Bengaluru needs to replace diesel vehicles with electric ones if it wants to avoid Delhi-level pollution. But for BMTC, saddled with a cumulative loss of Rs 650 crore, the threat is existential as revenue generation has stagnated while operation costs continue to soar.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When a private company offered to provide electric buses at Rs 37.50 per km, officials saw a ray of hope. High fuel prices had led to an increase in the operational cost of diesel buses from Rs 45 to Rs 56 per km between January and September.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Transport Minister D C Thammanna remained unconvinced by the project’s potential benefits. Instead, he preferred buying the electric buses and even called for cancellation of the tender, which has already been awarded.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When BMTC sought written directions for the cancellation, the Minister accused the officials of “taking money from the private company (bus provider) and pressuring” him to clear the lease-model project.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“A decision on the project was taken during the previous Congress regime when H M Revanna was the Transport Minister. The project could have been cleared at the board level. But there was a change in government and officials chose to wait till appointment of a new transport minister (Thammanna),” sources in the government say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Following the minister’s allegations, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy called a meeting to resolve the issues. BMTC officials made a presentation on the project while the Minister stated that leasing buses and providing depot space to the private operator will not help BMTC.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar was told to go through the documents and provide his opinion on the project. The Chief Minister will take a call on it soon after. Officials believe that the change in the government delayed the project by nearly six months.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong>ALSO</strong><strong> READ</strong></p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong><a href="https://deccanherald.com/city/electric-switch-e-cars-702458.html" target="_blank">An electric switch to e-cars</a></strong></p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/city/initial-hiccups-ev-users-they-702460.html" target="_blank">EV-users want quick infra upgrade</a></strong></p>
<p class="title">Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)’s plan to lease electric buses, a matter that should have been decided within weeks at the board level, has reached the Chief Minister’s office. This follows allegations of corruption levelled by the Transport Minister.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Over an year after BMTC invited tenders for leasing electric buses, the project is stuck in a quagmire. Officials opted to lease the buses instead of buying them due to challenges posed by the new technology.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Bengaluru needs to replace diesel vehicles with electric ones if it wants to avoid Delhi-level pollution. But for BMTC, saddled with a cumulative loss of Rs 650 crore, the threat is existential as revenue generation has stagnated while operation costs continue to soar.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When a private company offered to provide electric buses at Rs 37.50 per km, officials saw a ray of hope. High fuel prices had led to an increase in the operational cost of diesel buses from Rs 45 to Rs 56 per km between January and September.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, Transport Minister D C Thammanna remained unconvinced by the project’s potential benefits. Instead, he preferred buying the electric buses and even called for cancellation of the tender, which has already been awarded.</p>.<p class="bodytext">When BMTC sought written directions for the cancellation, the Minister accused the officials of “taking money from the private company (bus provider) and pressuring” him to clear the lease-model project.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“A decision on the project was taken during the previous Congress regime when H M Revanna was the Transport Minister. The project could have been cleared at the board level. But there was a change in government and officials chose to wait till appointment of a new transport minister (Thammanna),” sources in the government say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Following the minister’s allegations, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy called a meeting to resolve the issues. BMTC officials made a presentation on the project while the Minister stated that leasing buses and providing depot space to the private operator will not help BMTC.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar was told to go through the documents and provide his opinion on the project. The Chief Minister will take a call on it soon after. Officials believe that the change in the government delayed the project by nearly six months.</p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong>ALSO</strong><strong> READ</strong></p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong><a href="https://deccanherald.com/city/electric-switch-e-cars-702458.html" target="_blank">An electric switch to e-cars</a></strong></p>.<p class="bodytext"><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/city/initial-hiccups-ev-users-they-702460.html" target="_blank">EV-users want quick infra upgrade</a></strong></p>