India, May 15 -- In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent push for austerity amid the West Asia crisis, and with the state government announcing a series of cutbacks in expenditures on Wednesday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, cabinet ministers and top bureaucrats acted promptly to signal thrift through carefully calibrated shows of restraint in official travel.

On Thursday, Fadnavis drove a Royal Enfield Bullet from his official residence Varsha to Vidhan Bhavan with cultural affairs minister Ashish Shelar riding pillion; his deputies Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar travelled in electric vehicles (EVs), while a few other ministers chose to walk to Mantralaya for the cabinet meeting - egging opposition leaders to call the ...