In a major step to improve urban transport in the country, the Union government has started the second round of approvals for sanctioning buses to states under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). Nearly 2,124 buses were sanctioned for cities in three states in the first meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC), constituted for the purpose, of Ministry of Urban Development in New Delhi recently.    

The earlier round of buses sanctioned to the states took place way back in 2009. In the meeting held on September 17, the number of buses proposed to be sanctioned for Karnataka and Bhatinda stood at 2,104 and 20 respectively. The Secretary to Ministry of Urban Development, Sudhir Krishna had announced in August this year that 10,000 buses would be allocated to States under the JnNURM Programme of Urban renewal.    

Speaking at the meeting yesterday, the Secretary said that the current round of allocating buses has new features like sanctioning of bus depots, workshops, control centres, ITS system, etc. to make the project sustainable. He appreciated the efforts made by State of Karnataka in introducing efficiency in the Road Transport Sector especially with respect to buses and also asked the other States to try and emulate the high standards set by Karnataka.    

The city of Mysore has introduced State of the Art buses with ITS system including features like LED display for stops, CCTV cameras, GPRS, etc. Karnataka plans to introduce highly fuel efficient buses OF BS-IV specifications which are environmental friendly. Hybrid buses are also proposed to be introduced in Bangalore and Mysore.    

Out of the total of 10,000 buses, around 2000 buses have been set aside for the North East and hilly areas.