New Delhi,  Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday flagged off 97 high-tech electric buses.

Flagging off these electric buses from the Rajghat Depot, he also announced that 8,000 e-buses are in the pipeline to arrive by 2025 and Delhi will have the highest number of e-buses in India with 1,800 e-buses by November 2023.

"We are phasing out old-polluting buses and replacing them with electric buses. We have developed world-class education and healthcare models in Delhi; it is now time to transform Delhi's transport sector into a model for the world to reckon with," Kejriwal said.

The Chief Minister said that 153 e-buses are already plying on the roads of Delhi, and the new fleet of 97 will take the number to 250 and 50 more are to be added by September. "By November 2023, 1,500 more electric buses will be acquired to take the number of e-buses to 1,800, Delhi will soon boast of the highest number of electric buses in any Indian city," he said.

By the end of 2025, the number of buses in Delhi will increase to 10,380 of which about 80 per cent (8,180) will be electric buses. At present, 7,373 buses are running in Delhi including DTC and Cluster buses, this is the highest number of buses in the fleet of the Transport Department in the history of Delhi, he said.

About women drivers in DTC buses who were given appointment letters on Tuesday, he congratulated all drivers and said that 200 more women will be trained as bus drivers and join work very soon.