Govt aims for 25% evehicles in 5 yrs
DRAFT POLICY Transport minister releases policy for public comments, says government plans to make Delhi a leader in adopting electric vehicles
NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Tuesday released a draft policy which seeks to kick-start the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) in the capital. In five years, the policy targets 25% of all new vehicle registrations in the city to be electric.
Officials said the draft policy is one of the 26 commitments made under the 2018-19 “green budget” in order to combat the rising air pollution in the city.
Officials from Delhi government’s transport department said that the “Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2018” recognises that a new approach is required to kickstart EV adoption in Delhi and therefore seeks to put in place measures that address key hurdles in that direction.
“About 30% of particulate pollution in winter is caused by vehicles. Rapid adoption of zero-emission electric vehicles is therefore of great importance here,” said Kailash Gahlot, Delhi transport minister on Monday after the policy was released for public comments.
“Recognising the need for a new approach to kick-start electric vehicle adoption, we have drafted this comprehensive policy with an aim to make Delhi a leader in adoption of EVS. We believe that going electric and breathing better are two sides of the same coin,” Gahlot said.
The primary objective of the policy is to improve Delhi’s air quality by bringing down emissions from transport sector. “To do so, this policy will seek to drive rapid adoption of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVS) in a manner where they contribute 25% of all new vehicle registrations by 2023,” reads the draft policy.
The policy envisages creation of a corpus of funds to incentivise every vehicle segment using electricity. All incentives, government officials said, are in addition to the incentives offered by the Government of India as part of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME India) notified in 2015.
“We knew that Delhi needed an EV push through a policy because Centre’s FAME India could not take off as intended. A few states like Maharashtra and Telangana have a policy. But our policy is more comprehensive,” said Jasmine Shah, vice-chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commis- sion.
Experts welcomed the move, though some questioned about the availability of Ev-related infrastructure in the city.
“This is a welcome move, but a lot of issues particularly that of infrastructure would have to be addressed. Cars in Delhi won’t just ply within the city. Will there be enough infrastructure outside Delhi as well? Then there would be issues of battery, technology and maintenance. The government needs to come up with adequate infrastructure and attractive incentives for the users to buy such electric cars,” said Ravindra Kumar, head of transportation planning and environment at CSIR-CRRI.
Anjan Ray, director of Indian Institute of Petroleum, a government-funded research organisation which has retrofitted two cars and has transformed them into EVS, said the government would need to ensure that the mistakes made during the adoption of CNG are not repeated.
“The government needs to make sure that infrastructure won’t be a problem, which was seen when CNG was rolled out. There were huge queues outside CNG stations. Multi-level carparking areas in Delhi could be used as charging stations. This would also attract users to park their cars in the parking areas,” he said.
The policy commits to strengthen the infrastructure for battery swapping and charging to provide access within 3km range from anywhere in Delhi. Additional fees on non-evs will fund the bulk of corpus created to incentivise the adoption of electric vehicles, the draft reads.
“This policy will also seek to promote large-scale job creation in driving, selling, financing, servicing and charging of electric vehicles,” said an official. The government will gather public comments before presenting the policy before the Cabinet in a month. Open permit system for e-autos E-auto owners to get downpayment subsidy of up to and a 5% interest subvention
About 30% of particulate pollution in winter is caused by vehicles. Rapid adoption of zeroemission electric vehicles is therefore of great importance here. KAILASH GAHLOT,
Delhi transport minister
Up to Support for shift to e-rickshaws from lead acid batteries to those with swappable batteries E-rickshaw owners to get down payment subsidy of up to and 5% interest subvention Full waiver on registration fees, road tax, one-time MCD fee
Up to
per trip
trip Battery charging and swapping stations to be setup across Delhi with pvt sector participation in parking zones, bus depots and terminals, Metro stations etc. subsidy for energy Special operators electricity tariff identified for for battery operating charging charging and stations swapping stations Building by-laws to be amended to ensure that home, workplace parking are Ev-ready through mandatory installation of charging points Special power tariff for charging points NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Tuesday i nformed t he Supreme Court about an action plan to rejuvenate 201 water bodies in the national capital and said it would come up with an implementation programme to preserve them.
An affidavit, filed subsequent to the top court’s last direction, stated that the Delhi government, through the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), conducted a survey and identified 1,011 water bodies in the city. The government said it initially intends to rejuvenate 201 water bodies.
A model for rejuvenation of a contaminated and dried up water body at Rajokri was prepared under which ‘phytoride’ technology will be used to clean it, Delhi government’s counsel DN Goburdhan submitted before an apex court bench led by justice MB Lokur. The water body is spread across 2.5 acres of land.
Once the water body at Rajokri is free from contamination, it would then be restored for water recharging. In addition, an ecological park would be made with jogging tracks, children play areas, and with plantation of bushes and shrubs. A pilot project has also been initiated at Gogha Dairy in north-west Delhi using the same technology as the Rajokri project, the Delhi government told the court.
Separately, the DJB has also given a consultancy contract to a government corporation, which has been asked to submit a detailed project report and tender documents to rejuvenate another 12 water bodies. Another consultancy assignment to revive 93 water bodies has been given to Iit-delhi. Remaining ones would be taken up through National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the government said.
Once the report is submitted, physical work for rejuvenation of water bodies shall commence.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, assisting the bench, however, felt that the Delhi government’s affidavit was “vague” as it was silent on the action plant. He added that the government had failed to provide a list of the 1,011 water bodies identified and was also silent on the remaining 910.
At this, the bench asked Goburdhan to make all the details available in the form of a fresh affidavit.
Also, the document must enumerate steps that have been taken to stop discharge of sewage in the revived water bodies.