In what it hopes will be a well-synchronised feat, the Delhi government is looking to double the number of bus depots under the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) by the end of the next fiscal.
While it intends to increase the number of such depots from 50 to 61 and has already identified around five acres for the same in outer Delhi so far, the Transport Department is looking for additional land parcels and aims to raise the total number of DTC bus depots to 100 by the end of the fiscal year 2018-19, according to a source.
‘Parking space needed’
“We cannot have a situation where the procurement process of 2,000 new buses for the DTC begins and there is no space to park them; many new depots are already under construction, some of which will be available by the end of the year,” said the source.
“The Transport Department is searching for suitable parcels of land; one of these, which is spread across five acres, has been identified at Mundhela Kalan village in Najafgarh,” the source added.
Boost to fleet
The Delhi government’s ninth attempt to add more buses to the DTC fleet over the last four years recently bore fruit with the process of procuring 1,000 low-floor buses and 1,000 semi low-floor buses to be operated under the cluster scheme in the process.
The public transporter’s fleet currently consists of 5,600-odd buses, of which 4,000 are low-floor and around 1,600 are operated under the cluster scheme.
Aiming high
According to government estimates, the 50 DTC depots which are available are equipped to allow the parking of as many as 6,100 buses.
The number is likely to be increased to 7,687 by the end of the 2017-18 fiscal, said sources.
Sources added that the Transport Department intended to complete bus depots at various stages of construction across the Capital by the end of the current financial year.
These include the ones located at Dichaon Kalan (5 acres for 120 buses), Dwarka Sector 22 (10 acres for 240 buses), Bawana Sector 1 (3.75 acres for 90 buses), Rewla Khanpur in south-west Delhi (4 acres for 96 buses), Kharkhari Nahar in west Delhi (5 acres for 120 buses), Rani Khera I (6.67 acres for 158 buses), Rani Khera II (6 acres for 144 buses) and Rani Khera III (6 acres for 144 buses).
On the cards
The department is also looking to build depots in Narela (10 acres for 240 buses), East Vinod Nagar (4.8 acres for 115 buses) and Bawana Sector 5 (5 acres for 120 buses ) this financial year.
