Surat civic body launches fuel saving drive

Surat: The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has formally launched a voluntary car and motorcycle pooling initiative aimed at reducing fuel consumption by its workforce. The programme was announced on Thursday by municipal commissioner Nagrajan M, who said the civic body is hopes to save around 5,000 litres of fuel a day through coordinated commuting and shared travel for official duties.

SMC has 29,000 employees, and officials said most travel to work in private cars and two-wheelers. Under the initiative, the SMC hopes to reduce the daily use of approximately 1,000 cars and 3,000 two-wheelers. The move is also expected to ease traffic congestion by cutting the number of vehicles on city roads during peak hours.

Nagrajan said employees should consider sharing vehicles not only while commuting to and from the office but also during field visits. He suggested that staff members form teams and use a single vehicle for inspections and other on-ground work, helping reduce repeated trips and unnecessary fuel use.

The initiative will be driven by departments and employees themselves, and no single department has been assigned the role of coordinating car pooling. “We always discussed and tried to save fuel, but now there is an opportunity to do it with better focus. If only 20% staff starts following the vehicle sharing, there is over 4,000 less vehicles plying on the road,” he said.

Alongside the vehicle-sharing push, SMC is working on opening fuel depots in different areas of the city so that municipal vehicles do not have to travel long to refuel, further reducing consumption.

“Carpooling is not only beneficial in terms of fuel saving, but this will improve the environment as well. SMC is taking lead in the city and we want citizens to reduce use of separate vehicles,” Nagrajan added.

The initiative aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent national appeal to prioritize electricity and fuel conservation and promote green governance amid global fuel concerns linked to tensions in West Asia. The appeal also emphasized using modernization and digitization at workplaces to save fuel, time and human effort, while supporting a cleaner environment.