Lucknow, April 23 : The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to operate 700 electric buses in 14 major cities of the state in order to bring down pollution levels. According to the government spokesman, work is being done at a rapid pace on the project. Earlier, the electric buses were plying on roads across seven cities but now the government intends to provide this service to seven more cities. The spokesman said that more buses will be added to the fleet in the coming days and the routes will be upgraded to make buses run faster. In a statement, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that the operation of electric buses based on advanced technology will significantly improve the traffic system in 14 major cities of the state. The Uttar Pradesh government has also issued strict instructions to prepare charging stations at all selected locations for the operation of electric buses by April 30. The Urban Transport Directorate, after getting approval from the UP government, has initiated work on the project. It is worth mentioning that under the Smart City Scheme, the Urban Transport Department has been given the responsibility to operate a pollution-free electric vehicle. Ajit Singh, Joint Secretary, Urban Transport Directorate, said that, "The work of providing 700 electric buses in 14 cities of UP will be completed by the end of October and passengers will get the facility of electric buses from the month of November." He also that the cities to get electric buses for the first time are Moradabad, Jhansi, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur and Aligarh. The cities that will get additional buses are Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Mathura and Ghaziabad. The benefits of these electric buses are zero pollution, relief form noise pollution, convenient travel and live tracking. /IANS