PM Narendra Modi calls for personal car use moderation
NEW DELHI: Pitching the con- Two senior execs step down cept of ‘clean kilometres’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said use of private cars should be moderated.
While public transport, scooters and rickshaws, running on electric solutions, should increasingly dominate the mobility eco-system in the country.
“Public transport must be the corner-stone of our mobility initiatives… Our focus must also go beyond cars, to other vehicles such as scooters and rickshaws.
Large segments of the developing world depend on these vehicles for mobility,” he told a packed audience, comprising global honchos from companies such as Toyota, Suzuki, Hyundai, Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), ABB and Indian promoters of automakers like Mahindra & Mahindra and Hero group.
Modi said against other economies that carry the “baggage” of “private car ownership”, India is still light on personal car population. “This gives us the window of opportunity to create an all-new, seamless mobility eco-system.”
PM said “charged mobility is the way forward” for the country and added that there is also a need to encourage pedestrians and cycling by making them safer. He said “clean mobility powered by clean energy” is the most-powerful weapon in the fight against climate change.
“This means a pollution-free clean drive, leading to clean air and better living standards for our people.”
PM said his vision for the future of mobility in India is based on 7 Cs – “common, connected, convenient, congestion-free, charged, clean and cutting-edge.”
On provision of power for electric mobility, he said there is a need for generating this through renewable energy to drive in environmental benefits. “We plan to draw 175 Giga-Watts of energy from renewables by 2022.
We are already the fifth largest producer of solar energy in the world. We are also the sixth largest producer of renewable energy. We have also championed the cause of solar energy globally through the International Solar Alliance.”
Modi said investments should be boosted across the value chain – from batteries to smart charging to electric vehicle manufacturing. Also, he asked companies to tap into the knowledge of Isro in developing cost-effective batteries.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
