Lucknow. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the government is ready to acquire one lakh electric buses. These buses will be operated in place of one lakh buses being operated by the schools of the state.
On the occasion of the bhoomi pujan of Ashok Leyland’s EV plant to be established on the land of Scooter India in Sarojini Nagar, Lucknow, the Chief Minister said that the big market of Uttar Pradesh is ready for EV, now all that remains is to wait for the production.
Regarding the establishment of Ashok Leyland’s first plant in Uttar Pradesh in the midst of GBC 4.0, he said that electric vehicles are also needed to connect one lakh villages of the state with the cities. The milk societies also need EVs. This is a big market. He told the operators of Ashok Leyland that this is the right time, take advantage of it and meet the needs of EV in the market.
He said that the market here is not limited only to Uttar Pradesh, but is also connected to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Nepal. The government is promoting EVs in the state to protect the environment and under the new policy, subsidy is also being given on the manufacturing of every electric bus. A policy for electric vehicles has also been made. He said that Hinduja Group has taken initiative in this direction. The government is with us, do not delay production now.
Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said that due to the efforts of the Chief Minister, Sarojini Nagar has got a big industry. 66 industries have been established under GBC 1, 257 under GBC 2 and 536 through GBC 3. Production is also going to start soon in 894 industries. Industries Minister Nand Gopal Nandi said that under the leadership of the Chief Minister, a strong foundation of the economy of Uttar Pradesh has been laid.
Ashok Leyland Executive Chairman Dheeraj Hinduja said that every sector is developing in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Yogi. This is a good time for investment. Ashok Leyland was started in 1948. In the first phase, electric buses, trucks and small commercial vehicles will be manufactured in the Lucknow plant. The company will also manufacture vehicles running on hydrogen, CNG and LNG in the future.
He said that the construction of buses will be started after 18 months. 2,500 buses will be manufactured in a year. This factory will provide employment to 500 people in the first phase. Many dignitaries including Hinduja Group’s Europe Chairman Prakash Hinduja, Asia Chairman Ashok Hinduja, Union Minister of State Kaushal Kishore, Cabinet Minister Dayashankar Singh and Hinduja MD and CEO Shenu Agarwal were present in the program.