Manufacture Himachal-Specific Prototype Electric Buses, State Chief Minister Tells EV Makers

Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday asked the representatives of electric vehicle manufacturing companies to make the state-specific prototype electric buses in a time-bound manner with modern technology. In a meeting with the representatives, he said that the buses should be made keeping in mind the hilly terrain, loading capacity, and luggage space, a statement issued here said. The chief minister said a committee would be constituted to decide all the modalities and specifications for the prototype e-buses under the chairmanship of the state chief secretary.

The state government is committed to providing the best and most comfortable transportation services to the people. He said that the state government is making earnest efforts to preserve and conserve the environment and switching over to e-vehicles would be a milestone in this direction. The state government is planning to make the Parwanoo-Nalagarh-Una-Hamirpur-Nadaun-Dehra highway a 'Clean and Green' corridor and necessary infrastructure would be created in this regard, said Sukhu.

The state transport department is the first such department in the country to switch over to electric vehicles and it is the mandate of the state government that other departments would also be provided e-vehicles in a phased manner, he added. To achieve the goal of making Himachal Pradesh a 'green energy state' by the year 2025 and to reduce the carbon emission, the state government intends to replace the fleet of diesel buses of HRTC with electric buses in a phased manner and intends to ply e-buses on inter-district routes, he stated.