Kejriwal launches ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign, plans electric vehicle adoption to fight air pollution
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched ‘Switch Delhi’, an electric vehicle mass awareness campaign, to sensitize citizens about the benefits of switching to electric vehicles.
Delhi government has rolled out incentives on the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) among all the states. “Our vision is that by 2024, 25 per cent of new vehicles must be electric. Approximately Rs 30,000 subsidies are to be given for 2/3-wheelers while Rs 1.5 lakh for 4-wheelers. We are starting the ‘Switch Delhi’ campaign today to make people aware of clean vehicles,” said Kejriwal in his video conference.
Appealing to the people to take part in the movement, Kejriwal said, “We have to turn our EV adoption movement into a mass movement, a ‘Jan Andolan’, to form a collective commitment to decrease pollution.”
Let's switch to Electric Vehicles and save our environment. Launching a mass awareness campaign – 'Switch Delhi' | LIVE https://t.co/FZftMrXnI8
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 4, 2021
The government launched the campaign to inform, encourage and motivate every person in Delhi to switch from polluting vehicles to zero-emission EVs. All the hired cars being engaged by various departments of the Delhi government will switch to EVs within six months.
The Chief Minister said that the focus should be on the problem of air pollution which haunts the state and the health of its citizens.
“Over the last year, the people of Delhi have fought a courageous fight against Corona. They overcame all odds to defeat three waves of Corona. While all the people of Delhi deserve credit for this, it should not take away our focus from the long-term challenges facing Delhi. One such challenge is air pollution. To address the vehicular pollution in Delhi, in August 2020, the Delhi government notified the landmark Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy. It has been called the most progressive EV policy in India and among the best globally,” he added.
The Chief Minister informed that the state government has made road tax and registration fees for the EVs completely free. The policy has been created to promote the adoption of EVs on a large scale that cannot run on petrol. The government will also issue tenders to develop 100 public charging stations spread across the state.
