Battery run Reva cars eating into police coffers

Aneesha Sareen : Fri Jun 11 2010, : Chandigarh:

The battery operated Reva cars, launched in 2006, are proving to be an expensive proposition for the Chandigarh Police. Eating into its coffers, the environment-friendly cars meant to save on fuel has cost lakhs of rupees to the Chandigarh Police on its repair and maintenance.

On November 24, 2006, the Chandigarh Police inducted three Reva Electric cars into its patrolling fleet of cars. The price of each car was Rs 3,26,454 at the time of purchase.

An RTI application filed by Newsline revealed that the police has incurred an expenditure of over Rs 4.2 lakh on the repair and maintenance of these cars since the time they were purchased — a figure that would have cost the Chandigarh police another car.

In these four years, the cars have been making repeated rounds of the workshop, making the much touted cars a source of trouble for the police. While the ride in the initial two years was smooth, the last 15 months have seen the cars eating into the cops treasury.

The first four months of 2010 saw a total of Rs 1.13 lakh spent on repair of the three cars. In 2009, a total of Rs 2,48,350 was spent on maintenance and in the initial two years, close to Rs 60,000 was spent, the RTI application revealed.

The three cars are presently stationed near Neelam police post in Sector 17 Plaza, in Sector 34 police station and one in Sukhna lake police post. The car is for two adults, runs at the top speed of 60 km per hour and it can travel 50 km or five hours on full charge.

“The cars were seen more in the workshops than on the roads,” a police official said, adding that the parts of the car are highly expensive, which escalates the police’s budget. The application also revealed that the three cars have been sent for repair at the workshop 66 times in the last three years. One of them has made 33 rounds, while the other two cars have made 23 and 10 rounds respectively.

SSP headquarters Alok Kumar said the cars were inducted with the sole purpose of making it a profitable venture for police. “The car is manufactured by a Bangalore-based company and they do not have any local service station. Every time the cars breaks down, a company official from Banglaore is summoned and the parts are also very expensive. We will look into the matter regarding the high expenses incurred on these cars and will see what needs to be done,” he said.