UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, answering PM Modi’s call to save fuel, banned personal cars at Chandigarh’s government offices every Wednesday — then immediately arranged 17 special bus routes to bring the same employees to those same offices. The net fuel savings have not been disclosed.
On May 20, 2026, Chandigarh UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria issued a directive ordering staff at the UT Secretariat, Punjab-Haryana High Court, and Punjab Civil Secretariat not to drive personal vehicles on Wednesdays, in response to Prime Minister Modi’s national appeal to conserve fuel amid global supply pressures. The administration, apparently aware that government employees had not yet mastered teleportation, simultaneously announced 17 specially operated bus routes to ferry the same staff to and from their offices on vehicle-free days. The environmental impact of running 17 additional bus services every Wednesday to offset the fuel not burned by employee hatchbacks remains under silent review. Chandigarh — India’s most meticulously planned city, famous for its wide roads and car-dependent design — has thus solved the fuel crisis the way it solves most things: with a circular and a roundabout.