Recently Chief Secretary, chaired the maiden meeting of recently constituted UT Level Steering Committee (UTLSC) to take stock of the measures taken, so far, by the Housing & Urban Development Department to receive 200 more e-buses under PM e-Bus Sewa for both Jammu and Srinagar cities.

Other members of the committee who participated in the meeting included Principal Secretary, Finance; Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir/Jammu; Secretary, Transport; MD, JPDCL; CEO, SSCL/JSCL besides other concerned officers.

He took notice of the requirement of modalities and infrastructure to be raised to operate these buses in the twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar. He enquired about the costs to be incurred on development of the depots, charging stations and those to be made as operational expenditure to run this public transport system on per kilometre basis daily.

He asked about the kind of infrastructure and quantum of expenses to be covered under the central assistance. He advised for exploring all the options to secure funding for the operation of these buses besides the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to assuage some burden of expenses from the local government.

He examined the plans of the Department for establishment of depots for these buses at Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu and Bemina in Srinagar.