Himachal Road Transport Corporation is going to purchase about 700 buses to strengthen the transport services in the state. A decision in this regard was taken during the 159th meeting of the Board of Directors of the HRTC held here today under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that the formalities related to the purchase of 297 Type-1 e-buses have been completed. The board has decided to accept the approval of the purchase committee regarding these buses and send the matter to the Cabinet for final approval.
All these buses will be available for the convenience of passengers within about four months. Apart from this, approval has also been given to purchase 23 Type-1 e-buses in the meeting. He said that the purchase process of 24 new super luxury buses is in the final stage and a proposal in this regard would be sent to the State Cabinet for approval.
In the meeting, approval was also given to invite tenders for the purchase of 250 diesel buses. These buses will be of 37-seater capacity. Apart from this it was decided that the process of re-tendering would be initiated for the purchase of 100 mini buses.
Mukesh Agnihotri said that the arrival of 700 new buses would facilitate transportation to remote villages of the state, benefitting the locals and tourists as well. He said that instructions have been received from the Central Government to remove 15-year-old diesel buses, after compliance of which the fleet size of HRTC buses would decrease.
But the decision to purchase new buses will bring the fleet size back to normal. It was also decided to purchase two quick response vehicles and four cranes. It was informed in the meeting that HRTC has earned an income of about Rs 70 crore during the last one year.
Managing Director of the HRTC Rohan Chand Thakur, conducted the meeting. He said that in the near future, further improvements would be made in the working system of the corporation so that along with providing better services to the people, the income of the corporation can also be increased.
Members of the Board of Directors including Principal Secretary R.D. Nazim, Director DC Negi, Special Secretary Finance Rohit Jamwal, newly appointed Vice President of the HRTC Ajay Verma and non-official members were also present in the meeting.