The parliamentary Develo-pment Committee on Wednesday directed the Ministry for Physical Infrastructure and Transport to take measures to promote vehicles that run on electricity and locally-available energy.

With the ongoing trade embargo by India and the resultant gasoline shortage making life difficult for the people due to the dependence on imported oil, the House panel has instructed the government to take steps to ensure that there is no disruption to life every time there is a break in fuel supply.

The committee has also told the government to give a thought to converting the motor vehicles currently in operation to run on batteries. It has directed the government to form a coordination committee comprising of the ministries of Energy, Science, Technology and Environment and Physical Infrastructure and Transport Management to take the project forward.  

Likewise, the Development Committee has decided to improve public transportation services. “Basics like scientific management of transportation, embossed number plates, environment-friendly vehicles and smart licence cards, among others, are still out of sight,” the committee said. Smart licence cards were launched recently, but their implementation has not been effective due to lack of coordination between government agencies including the Traffic Police. According to the Traffic Police, they have to exchange information with the Department of Transport Management by writing a letter as there is no better means of communication.

The failure of the government to manage public transportation more efficiently has caused problems to commuters as there are too many vehicles on some routes and too few on others.

Realizing the need to study public transportation and pollution management in the cities, the House committee has decided to host a workshop to collect inputs from specialists.