Working on promoting eco-friendly transportation in Chandigarh, the UT administration has decided not to register non-electric two-wheelers between February 10 and March 31, 2023.
As per a notification issued on Wednesday, two-wheelers running on conventional fuels will not be registered by the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), Chandigarh, in the current financial year, up to March 31, 2023, in pursuance of Electric Vehicle Policy 2022.
The policy, which was notified in September 2022, will be applicable for five years, during which the administration plans to gradually stop registering fuel-run vehicles to dissuade people from buying vehicles that cause pollution.
In the first year of policy, incentives are being offered for up to 42,000 vehicles of different categories, including 25,000 e-cycles, 1,000 e-bikes and 3,000 cars.
Through this, the administration is looking to reduce the number of fuel-run four-wheelers by 10% and two-wheelers by 35%, compared to the preceding year.
Only new vehicles bought after September 20, 2022, are eligible for the incentive, for which the application must be submitted with the chief executive officer (CEO) of Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) within three months of purchase.
RLA Pradhuman Singh said, “Since the targeted number of non-electric two-wheeler registrations has already been achieved in the current financial year, registration of such vehicles is required to be immediately stopped in order to implement the provisions of the EV Policy in the interest of greener Chandigarh.”
Notably, though over 4,000 electric vehicles have been registered in Chandigarh over the past five years, the administration has failed to make even a single public-charging station operational. Consequently, users are forced to either charge their electric vehicles at home or at a private charging station, where they are charged ₹18 per unit compared to the ₹8 to ₹10 fee prescribed for public stations.
