India needs a JnNURM for its rural areas, says STU official

India has an immediate need for one million buses, said PS Anand Rao, executive director of the Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU). He was speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day Busworld Expo in Mumbai yesterday.

Explaining the issues surrounding public transport, he said that of this number, there is a need for 50 lakh buses to provide transport to villages that are not connected to the existing public bus transport network. Meeting this requirement, he said would  require funds worth Rs 9,154 crore and the association has asked for a one-time assistance from the government to the tune of Rs 7,584 crore.

With reference to JnNURM, he said that there is a need to have a JnNURM-like programme for India’s rural areas, many of which remain unconnected to the cities and smaller towns.  

Rao also said that following the decision of the National Green Tribunal to ban the operations of diesel vehicles over 10 years of age in the National Capital Region, the Association has written to the chief secretaries of the states urging them to take a similar decision.

The ASRTU has also urged the government to introduce the Bus Rapid Transport system in the cities and has advocated in favour of having hi-capacity buses. This, says Rao, are often more cost-effective than mass transit systems such as mono-rail and  metro networks.

The ASRTU which came into existence nearly 50 years ago on 13 August, 1965, runs 150,000 buses and carries 70 million passengers a day which is more than the Indian railways, said Rao.

Established to bring together all the state road transport undertakings on a common platform with the aim of pooling their resources and knowhow to deal with issues faced by them, the ASRTU has 62 members inclusive of seven associate members.