Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, has underlined the government’s commitment to bolstering the country’s urban transport network. He was addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee Members who are affiliated with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Urban Transport was on the agenda for the meeting.
The delegates of the meeting were treated to a detailed presentation on urban transport by Jaideep, Joint Secretary & OSD, Urban Transport, MoHUA. In the presentation, details were shared on the growth of the metro network across the country.
The participants were given an overview of ‘One Nation One Card’, an in-house National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) that was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019 and allows for easy travel via metro, rail, bus, and other Public Transport Operators (PTO) as well as single-card use at retail stores, restaurants, ATMs, kiosks, fuel stations, parking lots, and retail outlets.
The National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) qSPARC (quick Specification for Payment Application of Rupay Chip) is the foundation for the NCMC card.
Currently, the metro rail companies live on NCMC are Delhi Metro (DMRC), Bengaluru Metro (BMRCL), Mumbai Metro, Chennai Metro (CMRL), Ahmedabad Metro (GMRCL), and Kanpur Metro (UPMRCL).
Moreover, Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited in Goa, B.E.S.T. Undertaking in Mumbai, and Haryana Roadways are among the State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) adopting the NCMC ecosystem.
The members of parliament discussed a range of topics related to urban mobility during the meeting, such as last-mile connectivity, enhancing amenities, making travel easier, improving passenger comfort, and metro connectivity in their respective states and constituencies.
In answer to questions from members of parliament, Union Minister Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri stated that currently, roughly 874 kilometres of metro rail are in use in 20 different cities nationwide, while another 986 kilometres are being built in various locations. He informed that India is well on its way to having the second-largest metro network in the world.
The Minister, Hardeep Singj Puri, also mentioned the “PM-eBus Sewa,” a recently approved cabinet initiative that aims to improve city bus operations through the deployment of 10,000 e-buses using a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
