Anant Geete Flags Off '3-Cities' Fame India Eco Drive in the Capital To promote electrification of automobile transportation to achieve objectives laid in the National Mission for Electric Mobility (NMEM), Shri Anant G Geete, Union Minister, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises (HI&PE), Government of India today flagged off the '3-CITIES FAME INDIA ECO DRIVE' from Red Fort. The first leg of the drive included 46 hybrid and electric vehicles from different automobile manufacturers that were driven on the roads of Delhi. The fleet of the vehicles included two wheelers, cars and buses and this rally culminated at Gurgaon (Haryana). The drive was to promote conservation of energy and environmental benefits under the ambitious national scheme on Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) India. FAME India is a scheme launched in the month of April 2015 for two years as an introductory phase with an approved outlay of nearly Rs. 800 Crore. Shri Anant G Geete on this occasion said "Globally there is a paradigm shift in automobile transportation. Clean mobility solutions are being experimented and India cannot be far behind. Hybrid and electric vehicles are a need of future as they have come up as an excellent alternative solution for the petro products. They are not only environmentally friendly but are also pocket friendly for customers who are highly cost conscious in our country. In the recent years, concern about exhaust emissions from motor vehicles has been increasing despite improvements in vehicular technologies and fuel quality. Government of India is committed to work towards a cleaner environment and therefore development of alternative, cleaner fuels is paramount. The minister said the initial project for FAME India is nearly Rs. 800 crore but for its completion we require Rs. 14,000 crore, however adequate support and interest of both the buyers as well as the investors is a must requirement and hence it is imperative that widespread awareness needs to be generated for the viable utility of these new generation vehicles. The minister expressed hope that in the coming years with the increase in demand the prices of these will become more affordable. He said so far nearly 25,000 such vehicles have been sold and this trend is forging ahead. Shri G.M.Siddheswara, Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises on this occasion said that all the State Governments will be requested to bring down the VAT and registration charges on such vehicles so that incentive could be given for boosting up the sale of hybrid as well as electrical vehicles. With an objective of not keeping the campaign restricted to the bigger metro cities, ' 3- CITIES FAME INDIA ECO DRIVE' has also been planned in Jaipur on 30th November 2015 & Chandigarh on 7th December 2015. The government has already paved the way of providing incentives to those buyers who plan to purchase hybrid and electric vehicles. Eco friendly vehicles from Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motors Ltd, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, BMW India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero Electric, Electrotherm and Lohia Motors were in the fleet. The event was moderated by Shri Ambuj Sharma, Additional Secretary in the M/o Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. Dr. Rajan S.Katoch, Secretary, M/o Heavy Industries was also present on the occasion. On this occasion the message of the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) was highlighted which said "We are proud to be associated with the FAME Eco-Drive Rally, as it is aligned to our mission of curbing one of the major environmental threats that our country is facing today - pollution. It is alarming that our country is ranked at the bottom among the 132 countries in the recent Environmental Performance Index report, and is home to 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. But we strongly believe that by adopting e-vehicles, we can substantially reduce a significant amount of greenhouse gases that are hazardous to health. This will go a long way in mitigating climate change. The increased sales of EVs over the last six months are a testimony of how our citizens are becoming more sensitive towards the environment. We are certain that the numbers will grow by 200% by the end of 2016. We truly appreciate the Central government's step towards Electric Mobility and will continue to support their mission of bringing 7 million e-vehicles on road by 2020" The '3-Cities' Fame India Eco Drive is a public awareness campaign to promote electrification of automobile transportation to achieve objectives of the National Mission for Electric Mobility (NMEM). The initiative is being planned as a prelude to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21 or CMP 11) scheduled in Paris from November 30, 2015 - December 11, 2015. Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi is to participate in this conference. As part of the campaign, a similar rally of hybrid and electric vehicles will be held at Jaipur on 30th November 2015 (starting from Albert Hall Museum conclude at Amber Fort) and at Chandigarh on 7th December 2015 (starting from The Rock Garden and conclude at Indian School of Business, Mohali) in partnership with the respective State Governments.
