The ministry of heavy industry and public enterprises has sanctioned 50 electric buses for Tripura along with 26 other states for intra-city and intercity operation under the faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles (FAME) in India scheme.

A department of heavy industry press release said, “…….the department of heavy industry has approved the sanction of 5,595 electric buses to 64 cities/state government under FAME India scheme phase II.”

The department had invited the expression of interest (EoI) from million-plus cities, smart cities, state/UT capitals and cities from special category states for submission of proposal for deployment of electric buses on operational cost basis.

“In response, 86 proposals from 26 states/UTs for the deployment of 14,988 e-buses were received. After evaluation of these proposals, on the advice of project implementation and sanctioning committee (PISC) the government sanctioned 5,095 electric buses for 64 cities/state transport corporations for intra-city operation; 400 electric buses for intercity operation and 100 electric buses for last-mile connectivity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC),” the release said.

Tripura is the second state after Assam in the Northeast, which has been included in the scheme. In Tripura, 50 buses will be run in the capital city and in 100 buses will run in Assam — 50 for Guwahati, 25 each for Jorhat and Silchar.

On June 21, Tripura law minister Ratan Lal Nath said the state government will introduce metered autorickshaws in the Agartala Municipal Corporation area.

“The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting on Thursday. To improve the auto services in the municipal area and for better transport facilities, we have decided to install metres in auto-rickshaws,” Nath said on Friday.

He said the government will introduce more 25 town buses in the city, which would ply from 6am to 9pm.

In September last year, the state government has ordered an inquiry to find 69 urban transport buses, which were “missing” in official documents.

Transport minister Pranajit Singha Roy said the Tripura Urban Transport Corporation Limited (TUTCL) has 173 public buses. These buses were funded by the Centre under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in different phases.

However, only 101 of them are reported to be running on the streets while 69 others are “missing” in official documents.