New Delhi: The Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, has emphasized the government’s unwavering commitment to enhancing the Urban Transport network nationwide. He addressed the Consultative Committee Members of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The agenda of meeting was Urban Transport and it was attend by various industry experts as well key officials.
Shri Jaideep, Joint Secretary & OSD, Urban Transport, MoHUA, made an elaborated presentation on Urban Transport before the members at the meeting. In the presentation details were shared on growth of metro network across the country.
While discussing the expansion of the metro network throughout the country, the participants were introduced to ‘One Nation One Card’, a domestically developed National Common Mobility Card (NCMC). This card was launched in March 2019 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, with the aim of facilitating seamless travel via various transportation modes such as metro, rail, bus, and other public transport operators (PTOs). Additionally, it can be used for transactions at retail shops, restaurants, ATMs, kiosks, fuel stations, parking areas, and retail outlets, all with the convenience of a single card.
The NCMC card is based on qSPARC (quick Specification for Payment Application of Rupay Chip) which was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Currently, the Metro Rails Companies that are connected to the NCMC system are:
- Delhi Metro (DMRC)
- Bengaluru Metro (BMRCL)
- Mumbai Metro
- Chennai Metro (CMRL)
- Ahmedabad Metro (GMRCL)
- Kanpur Metro (UPMRCL)
Further, State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) that have implemented the NCMC ecosystem include the Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited in Goa, the B.E.S.T. Undertaking in Mumbai, and the Haryana Roadways.
During the meeting, the Members of Parliament raised issues pertaining to Urban Mobility which included the matters related to metro connectivity in their respective constituencies/ states, scaling up of metro operations in the country, last mile connectivity, enhancement of amenities, ease of travel and passenger comfort etc.
In response to the queries of MPs, the Union Minister Puri informed that at present, around 874 kilometers of metro rail is operational in 20 cities across the country and about 986 kilometers is under construction in various cities. He informed that India is well on its way to have the 2nd largest metro network of the world.
The Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also mentioned about “PM-eBus Sewa”, a scheme recently approved by the cabinet for augmenting city bus operations by deploying 10,000 e-buses on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Salient features of this scheme are:
- Deployment of 10,000 e- Buses on PPP Model
- Bus operations support for 10 years
- Support for development/upgradation of bus depot
- Support for behind-the-meter power infrastructure
- Coverage of cities with 3lakh+ population
- Selection of cities through a challenge method
