Ahead of Telangana’s electric vehicle policy which will be unveiled soon, it has been stipulated that all new auto-rickshaws must be electric, and no new diesel three-wheelers will be allowed.
This was announced by Telangana Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar while he was speaking at a high-level forum on India Climate Action at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco on Thursday.
Kumar said that Telangana will increase its number of electric buses from the present 40 to 2,000 by 2019. The government also aims to increase solar power capacity by 500 MW by promoting solar parks and rooftops, he said.
At the summit, mayors and government functionaries of Indian cities declared that they plan to scale up their actions to combat climate change and to protect people from hazardous climate impacts.
Apart from stating that no new diesel three-wheelers will be allowed, Kumar said that Hyderabad intends to convert 1,000 buildings to cool roofs as part of the city's Heat Action Plan. The cool roofs will be used on all low-income government housing, as well as in schools and hospitals, to lower indoor temperatures without using electricity.
Also speaking at the summit, Maharashtra Principal Secretary for Financial Reforms, Sujata Saunik said six more states would adopt heat action plans.
Currently, 30 cities and 11 states in India have Heat Action Plans, which enable vulnerable groups to take life-saving precautions. They will be adopted by five more states.
To increase the energy efficiency of India's construction sector, Kumar said five more cities in Telangana would adopt energy conservation building codes and online compliance systems by 2020.
Buildings currently account for 30% of India's electricity consumption.
Kumar also launched a new case study titled 'Getting Climate Ready' which is aimed at helping other cities and states formulate their own efficient building codes.
The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) announced plans to provide 15,000 more solar-powered pumps to salt pan farmers in Gujarat.