UT readies to give a big push to electric vehicles

Ramkrishan Upadhyay 

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 20

Replacing petrol and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles is the main focus of the UT Administration in the next 10 years as it has prepared a draft electric vehicle policy. In the draft policy, many incentives, including waiving road tax and registration charges on electric vehicles and free insurance for five years, have been proposed.

Uma Shankar Gupta, Director, Transport, UT, said the draft policy was ready but the department was awaiting guidelines on the subject from the Centre. Gupta said once they receive the guidelines, they would put the draft policy in public domain before issuing the final notification. 

Chandigarh is among few states and UTs to have worked on a policy to promote e-vehicles in a big way. 

Sources said the Administration proposed to have all-electric fleet of public buses and government vehicles by 2027. Existing rickshaws, cabs and school buses and vans will also be replaced with electric buses. Direct subsidy will be given to those buying electric vehicles. All institutions and offices and public parking will have dedicated free parking slots for electric vehicles. 

Under the draft policy, it is proposed that charging facilities be made must for all offices and institutions. Amendments in building bylaws are also proposed to ensure that the charging infrastructure could be set up without facing notices from the Estate Office or the Chandigarh Housing Board.

With the highest density of vehicles in India, the city is facing the challenge of pollution from petrol and diesel vehicles. The Administration recently started the process to purchase 40 electric buses.