Centre seeks report on electric vehicles from Chandigarh
CHANDIGARH: The ministry of road transport and highways has asked the Chandigarh administration to submit a progress report on the steps taken to promote electric vehicles in the city.
“Earlier in August, the ministry had asked the UT administration to initiate steps, but now they have sought a progress report,” said a senior UT official.
The official said the UT administration had recently succeeded in getting a nod of the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for fixing power tariff plan for electric vehicle charging stations in the city. This was for the first time that the power tariff plan for electricity vehicle charging stations was fixed.
The UT electricity department in its power tariff petition had proposed a power tariff plan for electric vehicle charging stations, which the UT administration has planned to set up in different parts of the city. In its latest order, the power regulatory commission has fixed Rs 4 per unit as power tariff for vehicle charging stations. Besides, the commission has also fixed Rs 100 as fixed monthly charge on electricity bill for vehicle charging stations.
The UT administration is already working on promoting hybrid and electric vehicles. Two years back, a team of the transport department had visited Nagpur to study charging stations’ set up in different parts of the city. Nagpur was the first city in the country to have electric vehicle charging stations in place.
Chandigarh has the highest density of vehicles in India with around 12 lakh registered vehicles, including two-wheelers and four-wheelers. The number of vehicles per house on an average is two and has led to a sharp deterioration in quality of air.
To cut down the level of pollution, the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) will induct electric buses in its fleet. The ministry of urban development has given a green signal to the CTU to purchase 20 buses in the first phase. One bus will cost around Rs 5 crore and the central government has agreed to fund 60% of the cost of electric buses. At present, around 3,000 e-rickshaws are plying in the city.
The ministry has also suggested initiatives to promote vehicles like waiving of toll charges, parking charges and issuing green registration number plates.
The central government has already framed a National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, which aims at promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in the country.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
