Rohit Shishodia
The Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has begun the service of electric buses to curb the impact of air pollution in the Island. The services were launched by Admiral (Retired) D K Joshi, the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands on January 26, 2021.

Admiral Joshi flagged-off a fleet of electric buses. The project for 40 electric buses is being executed by National Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN Limited), a 100% subsidiary of NTPC Limited, a PSU under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

Gases emancipating from diesel and petrol vehicles is one of the causes of increase in air pollution. It may be noted that electric buses were also unveiled in Delhi in 2019 to control air pollution that has impacted health of people of the city.

India’s Ministry of Power has stressed that the introduction of electric buses in the Island union territory will help cut down tailpipe emissions as well as provide comfortable public transport.

“In addition to the above project, NVVN has emerged as a successful bidder for providing turnkey solutions for 90 electric buses in Bengaluru under the Smart City project. These buses will provide last mile connectivity to NAMMA Metro network (also known as Bengaluru Metro),” said the ministry.

The ministry has pointed out that NVVN is developing and providing a complete range of zero emission mobility solutions for various vehicle segments. In order to encourage faster migration to electric vehicles, NVVN is also developing charging infrastructure in multiple cities across the country.