| No one - not even Mexican ambassador Melba Pria who started the trend - has illusions about the challenges the shift will mean: from security concerns to protocol problems and from the heat and dust of New Delhi to the monsoon.
But at a time of rare global consensus on aggressively tackling carbon emissions, the use of the CNG-powered vehicle, which consumes on average a tenth of the fuel a limousine does, has fuelled an unlikely debate in the international diplomatic community here.
Triggering such a debate among her ambassadorial peers - and in the protocol wing of the Indian foreign ministry - wasn't what Pria had in mind when she got an auto-rickshaw painted in lively summer colours.
"That was certainly not the idea. I was not actively trying to put an example, I was just following the Indian crowds," Pria told The Telegraph in an interview, an embarrassed look on her face. "But yes, some diplomats have come to me and said, 'Well, auto-rickshaw, maybe that is not a bad idea'."
Nor was pollution control her only priority when she first asked her soft-spoken chauffeur to diversify his skills and learn to drive an auto-rickshaw in addition to the limousine.
Pria wanted to market her country effectively.
"I was looking for the best way to market my country, in a way that fits with India," Pria said. "And the auto-rickshaw is so... so Indian."
Today, passers-by want to pose with her auto-rickshaw, retrofitted with seat belts by the envoy.
But it's not only on the streets that her vehicle is noticed. In March, when Mexico's foreign minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu Salinas visited, Pria's auto-rickshaw was the ice-breaker in the conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi asked Pria if she was "the diplomat" who was using an auto-rickshaw, she recalled. The ambassador promptly offered Modi a ride, triggering peals of laughter in the room.
US ambassador Richard Verma, too, has indicated a keenness to explore the possibility of using an auto-rickshaw. Last November, when the American ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, visited New Delhi, Verma took her on a ride from the mission to a meeting on an auto-rickshaw, diplomats recalled.
Giving up the limousine for an auto-rickshaw comes with challenges.
The protocol team of the foreign office approached Pria when she first sought permission for the change, enquiring about whether she was concerned about security. She said she was confident about using the auto-rickshaw.
But two diplomats pointed out that the security concerns would be higher for some other diplomats, including those from the US, and represent a major factor the Indian government would consider before it allowed other envoys the option. As the host country, India is responsible for the security of foreign diplomats posted here.
India's notoriously strict protocol norms aren't easy to bypass, either.
For instance, auto-rickshaws aren't allowed into the Parliament complex, which foreign diplomats at times need to visit to meet senior government officials and ministers. The Prime Minister's residence also lacks a protocol for security clearances for auto-rickshaws - they simply aren't allowed inside the complex.
But Pria said she was confident that she and other diplomats who chose the auto-rickshaw would receive clearances when needed.
No one in the Indian government had objected to her choice of official vehicle, she said, even when it stood out starkly. In March, Pria and foreign minister Salinas had visited the Prime Minister's Office using a limousine provided by the foreign ministry.
But after the meeting with Modi, Salinas and Pria hopped into the ambassador's auto-rickshaw waiting outside, squeezed between long sedans.
New Delhi's extreme weather also poses problems. Pria said she had found the summer, though hot and frequently dusty, manageable once the breeze from the moving auto-rickshaw hit her face.
The rains may be harder to handle. Pria is already plotting the use of curtain-like tarpaulin sheets to block the open sides of the auto-rickshaw when it rains.
But giving up on the auto-rickshaw during the monsoon is not an option for diplomats like her once they've taken up the challenge, she said.
"Public transport is really the only answer for big cities like the ones we have in our two countries," Pria said. "That's what has helped us bring down pollution."
Western diplomats here have long complained about New Delhi's air pollution, especially during the winter. When the Delhi government announced its "odd-even" vehicle rationing project, the US embassy voluntarily decided to enforce the policy though foreign missions here were exempt.
For at least two of the missions discussing the auto-rickshaw shift, using a three-wheeler would also be aimed at highlighting the need for public transport in big cities, diplomats aware of the planning said.
That's an emphasis Mexico City is familiar with, and one that Pria said India and Mexico could collaborate more on. With a population similar to Mumbai's or New Delhi's, Mexico City is familiar with the challenges of urban pollution. But a successful multi-modal transport system - a popular subway, and a "Metrobus" line that runs on designated road corridors - has helped bring down the city's air pollution significantly, Pria said.
Mexico City has, for two decades now, pursued a policy under which most cars are barred from the streets one day a week.
"There's definitely potential for cooperation (in urban pollution control)," Pria said.
Reported by-
The Telegraph, India |
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