Live
- Woman’s False Claim Sparks Unnecessary Panic
- Locals Report Naxal Activity in Karkala Village
- Mangaluru International Airport Sets New Records in Passenger and Flight Movements
- Where Areca failed, grow Coffee
- Collector Badavath Santosh Reviews Household Survey and Listing Process
- Awareness Session on SHE Team and POCSO Act
- Awareness Program in agricultural College on the Dangers of Drug Abuse for Youth
- 3500-Year-Old Menhir in Kamsanpally Village: A Call for Preservation
- The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Radiology: Transforming Diagnosis and Patient Care
- Hindustan Zinc Ltd. Signs MoU with Rajasthan Government to Invest Rs 36 Crores in Education Development
Choose public transport to check pollution: Kejri
As the government has planned to introduce a fleet of 1,000 ebuses in the city, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said greater usage of public transport facilities will be a major step towards curbing air pollution
Exhorts firms to invest, focus on innovation
New Delhi: As the government has planned to introduce a fleet of 1,000 e-buses in the city, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said greater usage of public transport facilities will be a "major step" towards curbing air pollution.
Addressing a stakeholders' consultation on the proposed draft electric vehicles policy for Delhi, Kejriwal also reiterated his government has the "political will" to take "tough decisions" to cut down pollution.
City Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said the AAP government plans to float tenders for the 1,000 electric buses shortly.
On November 2, Gahlot launched an e-bus for trial, so that zero-emissions vehicles could be rolled out in the next five to six months.
"The electrical vehicle policy being discussed today is a good step. And, greater usage of public transport would be a major step towards curbing air pollution.
People started using Delhi Metro when it was introduced, and it is a very clean and efficient mode of transport," Kejriwal said.
The government has planned to introduce 3,000 buses, out of which 1,000 would e-buses, he said.
"And, once these 1,000 e-buses arrive, and if they turn out to be technologically and economically viable, in future, we will buy e-buses only," the Chief Minister said.
Kejriwal said, it is being said that the scale on which e-buses are being planned to be introduced, is "first for any city in the country".
"So, our Delhi is taking a lead. There were several challenges- administrative, legal, charging infrastructure. We will address these issues and find solutions. The Delhi experiment will bring lessons for the whole world," he said.
Transport Commissioner Varsha Joshi made a brief presentation on the government's proposed policy, as per which it targets to have 25 per cent of all new vehicle registrations to be electric by 2023 through the subsidy for such autos, rickshaws and two-wheelers among others.
The policy also recommends strengthening infrastructure to provide battery charging access within 3 km range from anywhere in Delhi, while additional fees on non-electric vehicles will fund the bulk of corpus created to incentivise the adoption of electric cars.
Kejrwal said, subsidy "cannot be a permanent solution" and urged industries to work on research to come up with innovation to cut down cost.
E-vehicles need to be affordable and charging infrastructure need to be properly made available to made this plan work, he said.
Delhi Chief Minister said his government has the "political will" to take "tough decisions" to curb pollution, as it was done two years ago in introduction of Odd-Even car scheme.
"Odd-Even step was a very difficult experiment... but, people of Delhi really supported us, we were fortunate," he said.
