State will soon deploy at least 1000 electric vehicles

Kolkata: The state Transport department will deploy 1000 electric vehicles (EV) and the first batch of 200 cars are likely to hit the road soon, Firhad Hakim, transport minister said on Monday.

He inaugurated a fleet of 5 CNG buses in New Town on Monday afternoon. The buses will run from Shapoorji in New Town to Ultadanga and back.

He said he had asked the transport operators to reduce their dependenence on fossil fuel and tryout alternative means like electric or CNG buses.

"The price of diesel is going up everyday and how many time we can hike the fare to meet the crisis. One day the price of diesel may be Rs 1,000 per litre and then what should be the fare, will it be Rs 500 or more," he wondered.

"It is time for us to think of alternate means, he said adding that the environmental pollution is going up every day and the use of electric vehicles and CNG driven buses will reduce carbon emission.

He said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given relief to the owners of electric vehicles to encourage them to buy EVs.

New Town is the first towmship in the state where electric buses had been introduced for the first time.

Now the fleet has gone up to six. Charging stations have come up in New Town and a EV carnival was held in 2021 to encourage people to buy electric vehicles.

Hakim said there is a shortage of lithium batteries and once the problem is sorted out, there will be more EVs in the market.