New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi chief minister, on Tuesday (August 20) flagged off the first lot of buses with unique features including hydraulic lifts for differently-abled persons under the cluster scheme.

A press release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said, "Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged-off the first lot of new 1,000 buses fitted with unique features, marking the beginning of on-ground augmentation of public transport overcoming all difficulties. Kejriwal flagged-off the 25 new buses under the cluster scheme with unique features including hydraulic lifts for differently-abled passengers."

The new buses come with hydraulic lifts for the differently-abled to facilitate boarding and alighting of wheelchair-bound passengers, CCTV cameras, panic buttons with hooters and GPS for tracking the vehicle.

Speaking at the event, Kejriwal said, "Today is a day of happiness for Delhiites since it marks the beginning of the arrival of 3,000 new buses for Delhi. There were a lot of difficulties, but I am happy that all those hurdles have been overcome and finally the delivery of buses has started and the first lot has now hit the roads."

Under the cluster scheme, 125 new buses will arrive in September, 170 in October, 175 in November, 185 in December and 320 in January 2020 adding up to a total of 1,000 new buses.

In addition to these, 1,000 each of low floor air-conditioned and electric buses will also be added to the existing fleet.