West Bengal govt procures five electric vehicles for power minister, officials

The West Bengal government has procured five electric vehicles (EV) for official use of Power Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and two other senior officers.

The move will help create awareness towards e-mobility and air pollution caused by the emission of fossil fuel-driven vehicles, an official said on Tuesday.

"This is a great move for the sake of the environment when the world is fighting air pollution. From today, we started using five EVs. In the coming days, this will be an alternative for fossil fuel-driven vehicles," Chattopadhyay said.

Besides him, the minister said, the chief secretary, home secretary, principal secretary of the power department, and chairman cum managing director of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) will use the EVs for official use.

"These vehicles will cut down on air pollution and will not cause sound pollution," the minister said.

The EVs were procured on lease for five years from Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a company promoted by PSUs which has been working on energy efficiency across verticals and supplying EVs on rent to the Centre and several state governments.

This is the first procurement of electric passenger cars in the state from EESL, WBSEDCL spokesperson Biswarup Mukherjee said.

He said that the state government will slowly increase the number of EVs in its fleet in the near future.

"This is a step towards reducing dependency on fossil fuel," Mukherjee said adding that WBSEDCL is also contemplating to set up charging points at key locations in Kolkata and other major cities of the state and highways.