SPEECH OF HON'BLE GOVERNOR PUNJAB AND ADMINISTRATOR, UT CHANDIGARH, SHRI BANWARILAL PUORHIT ON THE OCCASION OF FLAGGING OFF 13 ELECTRIC BUSES AT INTERNATIONAL STATE BUS TERMINUS, SECTOR 17, CHANDIGARH ON NOVEMBER 13, 2021 AT 11.30 AM

The transport sector accounts for major chunk of total Oil energy consumption in India. At the moment, this demand is being met mostly through imported crude oil, which therefore makes this sector vulnerable to the volatile international crude oil prices. Moreover, the sector also contributes Tonnes of CO2 emissions to the environment and some of it is contributed by the road transport segment alone.

Keeping in view the climate change commitments made by Government of India during the COP21 Summit held at Paris to reduce emission intensity from 2005 levels, it is pertinent to introduce alternative means in the transport sector which can be coupled with India?s rapid economic growth, rising urbanization, travel demand and country?s energy security.

The transition towards electric mobility offers India not only an opportunity to improve efficiency and transform the transport sector but also addresses several issues that the country is currently grappling with. The concerns regarding energy security and rising current account deficit (CAD) on account of rising fossil fuel imports can be addressed with the uptake of electric mobility.

Government of India has launched number of schemes to promote electric mobility in the country. Significant Incentives and Subsidies have also been announced under said schemes like Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME)by Ministry of Heavy Industries, Scrapping of Diesel/Petrol Vehicles by Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, Govt. of India to reduce cost of acquisition and spur Electric Vehicles adoption. While many state EV policies have announced specific electrification targets and timelines for buses, thereby helping create a roadmap for electrification, Chandigarh is also one of them, where draft Electric Vehicle Policy has been drafted and will be notified shortly.

As a part of this initiative of Govt. of India and for electrification of Public Transport in the City, today 12 pure electric buses are being Flagged off the Green City Theme.

Thank You

Jai Hind.