Only CNG for Ahmedabad BRTS: Bhure Lal

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority — EPCA, known as the Bhure Lal committee — has insisted that theAhmedebad Municipal Corporation AMC roll out only CNG buses for BRTS. The committee has written to the state government that the BRTS plan had shaped up over the last five years as the EPCA required introduction of better public transport run on CNG for the city to reduce the air pollution. After getting reports that AMC is considering operating diesel buses for the BRTS, chairman of EPCA Bhure Lal has written to the state government saying: “EPCA is surprised to note this decision because such a step will negate the efforts being made for abatement of pollution in Ahmedabad through the implementation of an action plan.” Reminding that progress of the plan is also reported to the SC from time to time, Bhure Lal has ‘requested’ ensuring that only CNG buses ply on BRTS. Otherwise, it will be a losing battle against pollution control.
The conflict now is between using a green fuel like CNG or settle for Euro-3 diesel buses and provide a cheap and faster mode of transport for Amdavadis. Especially when cities like Bangalore and Pune already have Euro-3 diesel buses running in their BRTS. Three major issues had surfaced over the last six months between revising tenders and countless pre-bid meetings with the prospective operators. The first being higher CNG costs when compared to other cities, high maintenance costs of CNG buses against diesel buses and higher assembly costs of CNG buses as compared to euro-3 diesel buses.