The Arvind Kejriwal government issued an order on Thursday that said all petrol, diesel and CNG vehicles of the Delhi government will be replaced by electric vehicles within six months.
The order said any department and autonomous body of the Delhi government can hire an electric vehicle for the first time with the permission of the finance department. No fresh approval is however required for hiring of electric vehicles already approved by the FD earlier. Also, no permission is needed to extend existing contracts.
Manish Sisodia, the Delhi deputy chief minister of Delhi tweeted that driven by the vision of CM Arvind Kejriwal to make Delhi the Electric Vehicle capital of India, the government today became the first in the world, to mandate its entire hired car fleet to switch to electric within a deadline of six months.
Meanwhile, Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the decision by special secretary, finance of the Delhi government and said this will go a long way in curbing pollution in Delhi. Delhi is fast becoming a modern city. Every Indian is proud of Delhi.
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All departments, autonomous bodies, and Grantee institutions of government of Delhi must submit a monthly action taken report on the status of fleet transition to EVs by the 5th of every month to the transport department. The departments have to inform how the transition to EVs is going, identify gaps and give suggestions to meet the target within six months.
The Delhi government in August last year had announced an electric vehicle policy driven by the vision of CM Kejriwal to make the city the EV capital of India. The policy will work to significantly improve Delhi’s air quality that worsens during the winter months. Air quality in the national capital is a major cause of concern where the levels of the pollutant PM2.5 regularly exceed the safe limit in winter.