Formal orders issued to depts to exclusively start using EVs
New Delhi: With the Delhi government boosting its Electric Vehicle Policy, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia announced that all departments of the government will now use only electric vehicles and transition is expected to be completed in the next six months.
"It is the dream of our Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to make Delhi a pollution-free city," he said while making the announcement on Thursday.
The Transport Department will be the nodal department to monitor the progress of the transition from existing diesel or petrol vehicle fleets to EVs. It will also be necessary for all departments to produce monthly action reports on the transition to EVs by the 5th of every month to the nodal department.
Delhi will be the capital of the world where all government departments switch to electric vehicles for road travel, he said. He also said that the State government hopes that cities across the world will follow 'Delhi's model' and ensure that electric vehicles are used to curb pollution.
"It is necessary to focus on the challenges related to a sustainable environment. Delhi government has prioritised the issue of curbing environmental distress along with its other major agenda items," Sisodia said.
"The Delhi government has directed all its departments, autonomous bodies and grantee institutions to make a shift from their existing hired petrol/diesel/CNG vehicles to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Based on the Electric Vehicles Policy 2020, the Delhi government has instructed all of its departments to switch to EVs through a lease/hiring model within a time frame of six months. Dry lease/wet lease model has been encouraged by the government for the same," the Delhi government said in a statement.
"The people of Delhi have time and again made efforts towards making our environment, our city green and clean. Switching to electric vehicles will be another effort that all of us together, as citizens of Delhi, will take to ensure that we continue this fight towards sustainability," the Deputy CM said.
'Switch Delhi' is an eight-week mass awareness campaign by the Delhi government to sensitise each and every citizen about the benefits of switching to EVs to the environment as well as to make them aware of the incentives and infrastructure being developed under the EV policy.
The campaign aims at informing, encouraging, and motivating each and every person in the city to switch from polluting vehicles to zero-emission electric vehicles. While the first two weeks of the campaign focused on promoting two and three wheeler owners to switch to EVs, the third week targets four-wheeler vehicle owners to adopt EVs.
The government, which has over 2,000 cars in its fleet, said it hopes its decision will inspire other cities in the country and the world to tackle the issues of pollution and climate change with the urgency they
deserve.
