New Delhi/Mumbai, May 13 -- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has put out a tender to buy 57 petrol-powered cars less than a week after a pollution control body urged all government institutions in the National Capital Region to buy only cleaner-fuel vehicles, a move that experts said was perplexing.

The environment ministry floated the tender on the Government e-Marketplace (Gem) portal on 8 May for 60 cars to be deployed in New Delhi at an estimated cost of Rs.8.4 crore. Of these, 57 are petrol-powered cars - 27 units of Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and 30 units of Maruti Suzuki Dzire. The other vehicles are two Toyota Hycross hybrid cars and one Tata Nexon EV electric car.

The tender was published barely a week after the C...