Top IAS and IPS officers in Chandigarh gave up their official cars and travelled to work by autorickshaw, bus, or bicycle on Wednesday, as the Union Territory administration asked them to observe a no-car day, acting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s austerity call.

Sumer Pratap Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Traffic, came by an air-conditioned electric bus of the Chandigarh Transport Union. He travelled with his gunman from the Sector 43 bus stand to the Union Territory Secretariat. It took him 15 minutes and cost Rs 25. He said the journey was very comfortable.

Sub-divisional Magistrate Pavitar Singh arrived at the UT Secretariat in an autorickshaw with his gunman from his official residence in Sector 7.

“The auto driver had a proper meter and I paid after the ride. My roots are in a village, so even without an air conditioner, it doesn’t matter much to me,” Singh said.

“During my (competitive exam) preparation days in Delhi, we used to commute by autorickshaw. Yes, then we would just casually ask him ‘bhaiya meter se chaloge ya nahi aise hi…’,” he smiled.

“Since we had to observe the no-car day today, I opted for an auto. Many others opted for CTU buses,” he added.

Chief Secretary H Rajesh Prasad, Public Relations Director Rajiv Tewari, and Punjab Civil Service officer Sorabh Arora cycled to their offices.

While IAS officer Prerna Puri walked to her office, IAS officers D Karthikeyan and Swapnil Naik, and DANICS officers Amit Kumar and Akhil Kumar travelled by bus.

The prime minister has called on everyone to reduce fuel consumption, cut foreign travel, and avoid buying gold to help ease pressure on foreign exchange reserves amid the West Asia crisis.