Nitin Gadkari urges making EV usage compulsory for all govt officials

Minister of Road Transport and Highways has launched the Go Electric campaign - a program that aims to boost electric mobility and the use of electrical appliances across country.

While addressing the occasion, he also advised that usage of electric vehicles should be make compulsory for all officials in government ministries and department. The minister also urged Power Minister R K Singh to make it mandatory for officials in his department to use electric vehicles.

Gadkari further emphasied that the usage of even 10,000 electric vehicles in Delhi can alone save ₹30 crore per month. The occasion also saw an announcement on the launch of fuel-cell bus service from Delhi to Agra and Delhi to Jaipur soon.

Apart from usage of electric vehicles, the transport minister also suggested that government should provide subsidy to buy electric cooking appliances instead of offering support for buying cooking gas to households. The reason cited was that cooking on electricity appliances is cleaner and can also reduce import dependence for gas. "Why don’t we provide subsidy on electric cooking appliances? We already provide subsidy on cooking gas," he asked.

Earlier this month, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had launched the 'Switch Delhi' campaign to promote the use of electric vehicles in the national capital. He had also announced that his government will hire only electric vehicles for various purposes in subsequent six weeks.

Kejriwal further urged delivery chains and big companies, resident welfare associations, market associations, malls and cinema halls to promote usage of electric vehicles and set up charging stations at their premises.

He further informed that since the launch of the 'Delhi EV Policy' in August last year, more than 6,000 electric vehicles have been purchased. The AAP government has also issued tenders for setting up 100 charging stations across the city.