BMC Budget 2023: By December 2023, Mumbai will have 3,400 electric buses, says Iqbal Singh Chahal

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Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday said that Mumbai will have 3,400 electric buses by December 2023.

Addressing a press conference after the BMC budget presentation, Chahal said, "By December 2023, Mumbai will have 3,400 electric buses. Mumbai will be the first city in India to have E public buses in huge number."

The BMC has allotted Rs 800 crore to BEST for the financial year 2023-24. Chahal, in the BMC Budget 2023 speech, said that during the year 2022-23, a total amount of Rs 1382.28 crore is given as an advance to BEST Undertaking subject to the state government's decision to treat this amount as a loan to BEST Undertaking.

"Furthermore, considering the importance of public transportation, a provision of Rs 800 crore is proposed in the Budget Estimate 2023-24 for assisting Undertaking, to support their functioning. I hope BEST will reach a better financial position soon by improving on various parameters and also by structural reforms and reduced dependency on assistance from BMC in near future," he said.

Also Read: BMC Budget 2023: From infrastructure to pollution control measures, here are some key highlights

In a push for public transport and clean energy, the BMC Budget 2023 had a special mention on 'Sustainable and Clean Transport Measures'. The budget document said: "Due to enormous increase in vehicle usage, on-road transportation remains a major contributor to air pollution. Thus, the city should focus on transport demand management to disincentivize private transport and shift the demand from low-occupancy private vehicles to high-occupancy shared vehicles, from fossil fuel-based vehicles to clean transport modes."

For this BMC will adopt the following measures, to reduce on-road air pollution:

1. Electrification of BMC vehicles and provision of charging infrastructure
2. 3000 electric BEST buses are being procured
3. Conversion of old BMC diesel/petrol vehicles into CNG vehicles

The BMC, the richest civic body in the country, on Saturday presented a Rs 52,619.07 crore budget for the year 2023-24, with the budgetary estimates crossing the Rs 50,000 crore-mark for the first time.

The BMC administration presented the budget to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, who was appointed as the civic body's administrator by the state government in March last year after the five-year term of corporators ended.

"The budget estimates for the financial year 2023-24 are proposed at Rs 52,619.07 crore, which exceeds the budget estimates of 2022-23, that is Rs 45,949.21 crore, by 14.52 per cent," the budget document said.

The budgetary estimates this time are 14.52 per cent more than the 2022-23 amount of Rs 45,949 crore.