The Delhi government has added another 320 electric buses at an event today (July 30). Kailash Gahlot, Transport Minister of Delhi and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena flagged off the newly-inducted electric buses manufactured by Tata Motors. With the latest addition of electric buses, the overall strength of Delhi Transport Corporation's (DTC) electric bus fleet has now gone up to 1,970. Delhi tops the list of cities in India with highest number of electric buses used as public transport.

The electric buses added today comes with CCTV cameras and panic buttons for safety of passengers. They also offer air-conditioning and are equipped with facilities for smooth boarding of specially-abled passengers. The electric buses were flagged off from Baansera at an event.

The Delhi government aims to achieve 80 per cent electrification of its entire bus fleet by next year. It currently has 7,683 buses, out of which 1,970 are electric buses whiel the remaining run on CNG. The electric buses consist of nearly 25 per cent of DTC's entire bus fleet.

The push for electric buses come amid Delhi's frequent tryst with pollution. VK Saxena, LG of Delhi, said, "I feel that if pollution needs to be reduced in Delhi, public transport needs to be strengthened and this is a step in that direction. Our effort will be that the central and Delhi governments, which are working together on this, should take this ahead."

Kailash Gahlot, Transport Minister of Delhi, said the national capital stands third among all cities in the world with highest number of electric buses. He said, “This is the highest number of buses in DTC's fleet. Even at the time of Commonwealth Games, the fleet consisted around 5,500 buses. It is an important milestone."

The new electric buses will ply under the DTV. They will be stationed at three bus depots which include Sukhdev Vihar, Kalkaji and Naraina.