New Delhi: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday pledged to invest 1 billion euros over the next five years on environmentally-friendly urban mobility in India.
Chancellor Merkel, whose visit to the country coincided with one of the worst spells of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, also emphasised on the need to replace diesel-run public transport with electric vehicles.
“We have agreed to co-operate on climate protection and green urban mobility and have earmarked 1 billion euros towards this,” Chancellor Merkel said at an event in Delhi.
Germany would also invest 200 million euros to reform the bus sector in Tamil Nadu, she added.
Touching upon the subject of air pollution in Delhi, Chancellor Merkel said that looking at the severity of the situation, it would be a good idea to replace remaining diesel buses with electric ones.
Though most of Delhi’s buses, especially ones run by Delhi Transport Corporation or DTC run on CNG, other buses in the capital and neighbouring cities run on diesel.
Delhi recorded its worst air quality of the season on Friday as the pollution level touched the ‘severe plus’ category, prompting authorities to shut schools till November 5, ban all construction activities and declare a “public health emergency”.
Chancellor Merkel said that Germany would also like to work with India on various segments including healthcare, agriculture and artificial intelligence.
