BHUBANESWAR: The Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) will soon replace its entire fleet of vehicles with e-buses and expand it in the next two months. Addressing the 3rd international conference of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) on Sustainable Energy and Future Electric Transportation (SeFeT-2023) here on Friday, ADG (Crime Branch) and managing director of CRUT Arun Bothra said CRUT will expand its fleet by introducing 200 electric buses by October.
“CRUT is presently operating 50 electric buses in the city. The shift to electric transportation is necessary in view of the threat posed by climate change. Initially when people talked about the need to protect the environment, they were mocked. Now we are witnessing floods in Rajasthan and disasters in the Himalayas,” he said.
While 50 electric autos are operating in Bhubaneswar at present, Bothra said, it has been planned to add 200 more e-autos as part of the government’s commitment to the cause of sustainability. As a policy, these e-autos are operated exclusively by women, transgenders and HIV positive people, he said.
The government has also launched an electric vehicle policy under which people purchasing EVs would get subsidy, which is among the highest in the country. Besides, a vehicle scrapping facility has been set up to scientifically scrap all vehicles unfit for use, he said.
President of IEEE Smart Village Dr Ranjan Kapur said there are around one billion people in the world who have no access to technology and IEEE is working in four continents to bridge the gap.“Advancing technology for humanity is our motto,” he said, adding IEEE Smart Village has funded 100 enterprises worldwide in the last 10 years.
Over 500 researchers from across the world are attending the four-day conference, which provides a platform for engineers, researchers, scientists and academicians to present their work, share experiences and ideas.
SOA vice chancellor Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda, OUTR vice chancellor Prof Bibhuti Bhushan Biswal, IEEE fellow and programme leader of Singapore Institute of Technology Prof Akshay Kumar Rathore and additional dean (student affairs), ITER, Prof Renu Sharma also spoke.