E-vehicle policy: Chandigarh Adviser pushes for early implementation

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, June 4

Irked over a slow pace of work on the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, the UT Adviser has directed the officials to finalise it at the earliest.

To promote electric vehicles, the UT Administration notified the draft policy in February this year.

The policy was almost ready, but certain financial issues were yet to be resolved, said UT Adviser Dharam Pal. As a few notifications such as imposition of cess, budget allocation, etc, were to be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for approval, the Adviser directed the Finance and Science and Technology Secretaries to speed up the process of finalising the policy. The Adviser said he would monitor the progress of the work on a daily basis and also make efforts to get the approval from the MHA as early as possible so that it could be implemented at the earliest.

To promote zero-emission mobility, the UT Administration will provide incentives in the range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2 lakh to the first 42,000 buyers of electric vehicles of all categories, including e-bicycles and four-wheelers.

All incentives will be over and above the FAME-II policy incentives of the Central Government and will be applicable only to electric vehicles to be purchased and registered in Chandigarh.

The road tax and registration fees will be waived for all eligible vehicles registered during the policy period. The policy will be valid for a period of five years from the date of notification with a detailed review to be undertaken annually or as required.

To promote the use of electric vehicles, public charging stations will be set up in every sector. In the first two years of the policy period, 100 public charging stations will be installed in the UT.

Within six months of the implementation of the policy, it will be mandatory for all petrol pumps to set up EV charging stations. Building bylaws will be amended to facilitate setting up of these stations in houses and other buildings.

In a bid to push the launch of the EV policy, the Administration is in the process to install at least 44 EV charging stations at different locations in the city. With the installation of 44 charging stations, 328 electric vehicles could be charged at a time in the city. Battery-swapping stations would be set up along with the charging stations at 26 locations at first.