Nalbari becomes Assam’s 7th district with EV station, rolls out e-buses to Guwahati

Nalbari, Nov 6: Assam took another step towards clean mobility on Thursday as Nalbari became the seventh district in the state to get an electric vehicle (EV) charging station.

The facility was inaugurated by Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Chief Hagrama Mohilary in the presence of several cabinet ministers, including Public Health Engineering Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah and Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.

“This is an excellent initiative. Although this service isn’t yet available across the entire state, I hope it will gradually reach every part of Assam. I also inaugurated the charging station during the event. Even hydrogen buses, which are already operational in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, should be brought to Assam,” said Mohilary.

Nalbari legislator Jayanta Malla Baruah noted that the lack of charging infrastructure had been a major hurdle in expanding the government’s fleet of electric buses.

“It couldn’t be implemented earlier due to the absence of a charging station, as a green bus can run only about 150 kilometres on a single charge. Now that Nalbari has one, we can build a proper urban transport network here,” he said.

Additionally, two fully air-conditioned electric buses were launched to operate between Nalbari and Guwahati. Starting November 6, the buses will ply up to Khanapara in the city.

According to the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC), one bus will leave Nalbari for Guwahati at 7:45 am, while another will depart from Guwahati to Nalbari at 8:00 am. In the evening, two return services will operate in both directions at 5:00 pm.

The new service is part of the 100 electric buses planned under the Prime Minister’s E-Bus Sewa this year, marking another step towards cleaner and more efficient public transport in Assam.

Addressing the gathering, Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said a total of 356 green buses are currently plying across the state.