Odisha govt out in market for Hybrid vehicles

The Ministers and top officials of the Odisha government will be using hybrid vehicles soon, revealed a State Transport department notice.

As per the reports, the Government of India and many States have already brought policies that incentivise purchase of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles with an objective to reduce use of fossil-fuel vehicles.

However, while Odisha government has provided incentives for the people to purchase EVs, it seems it has decided to go for hybrid vehicles for its ministers and top bureaucrats.

The Finance Department has already obtained in-principle approval from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the procurement of hybrid vehicles for the official use of its functionaries.

Now, the Finance Department has sought views of the Transport Department regarding models of hybrid vehicles, their price range, mileage, and year-wise maintenance cost for fixing modalities of procuring hybrid vehicles for government functionaries.

The Joint Secretary of the Transport Department requested the Transport Commissioner on Wednesday to place the proposal before a technical committee of the State Transport Authority (STA) and furnish a detailed report regarding Hybrid vehicles available in the market (both mild and strong), for further action.

He also directed to consult technical persons from hybrid vehicle manufacturers and invite them to participate in the meeting of the Technical Committee.

Earlier in March, in an austerity measure, the government had notified particular brand of vehicles for its functionaries to avoid misuse of money.

As per the notice, the ministers, Chief Secretary, Officers in the apex scale rank, and high dignitaries were allowed to use official vehicles under Rs 25 lakh and with a minimum mileage of 9 kmpl, which includes Toyota Innova, Tata Hexa, and XUV500.

Similarly, the district judges were allowed to use vehicles priced below 15 lakh with a mileage of a minimum 12 kmpl that includes Suzuki Ciaz and Honda City.

The Collectors and SPs were allowed to ride Mahindra Scorpio, Hyundai Creta and Mahindra Marazzo that cost below Rs 15 lakh with a mileage of 12 kmpl.