Bhubaneswar, Sep 7 In a move to protect the environment from air pollution, the Odisha government has initiated steps to hire electric vehicles for its use in different government offices, state transport minister Tukuni Sahu said on Wednesday.
"The Naveen Patnaik government is always concerned about development without environment pollution. Accordingly, we are planning to engage electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel vehicles in different government offices," Sahu told reporters here.
Plan is to engage few electric vehicles in every department and office at least in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar city, she said.
Transport commissioner has been asked for fixation of hiring charges of electric vehicles to be engaged/hired for official use by the departments and other offices, including Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Sahu informed.
The transport department has been asked to fix the prices considering all the relevant parameters like cost of different categories of vehicles that have come to market, maximum ceiling for monthly running of EVs, battery replacement, charging cost and other costs if any, the sources said.
The state government is also going to revise the maintenance cost of vehicles, which was fixed long back under Rules Regulating Control and Use of Government Vehicles Use, 1978.
As the cost of spares, batteries, tyres and tubes etc. have increased manifold, so there is a need to revise the maintenance cost of the vehicles, the source said.
The Centre has already instructed the ministries/departments to switch over to electrical mobility from petrol and diesel cars in respect of vehicles taken on lease/hire for official purpose.
Notably, the Odisha government has already launched its EV Policy, 2021, under which, the government is providing a subsidy on purchase of various categories of electric vehicles.
As per official data, the state has distributed nearly Rs 2.96 crore to eligible 4488 EV buyers in the state. Of the 16,759 electric vehicles sold in the state following implementation of the policy, 5466 vehicles have applied for subsidy. Of which, 4488 vehicle owners have received the subsidy amount.
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