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Officials said that with only 702 registrations of fuel-powered motorcycles remaining in Chandigarh under its electric vehicle policy, the ban on fuel-powered two-wheelers in the union territory is likely to come into effect from July 6-7.
Meanwhile, the Chandigarh administration called a meeting on electric car policy on Monday after the ruling BJP mayor Anoop Gupta warned of protests at the Union Territory border if the ban was implemented. He also said that non-electric vehicles would not be allowed into the city.
A letter sent by Arulrajan P, CEO, Chandigarh Society for Renewable Energy, Science and Technology (CREST), said the Mid-Term Review Meeting on EV Policy 2022 will be held under the chairmanship of the Union Territory Adviser at 10:30 am on Monday. In the new secretariat building. The letter was sent to the mayor, home secretary, finance minister, commissioner, deputy commissioner and transport manager, among others.
However, a senior official of the Chandigarh administration stated, “The review meeting is a mid-term policy review meeting and has nothing to do with the mayor’s threat.”
The Chandigarh administration, in a bid to declare itself as a model city for electric vehicles and the city with the highest density of electric vehicles, has introduced an electric vehicle policy in September 2022 as per the targets set every year to phase out fuel-powered vehicles – both two- and four-wheelers. By next year, the registration of fuel-powered two-wheeled vehicles will be completely banned and the number of four-wheeled vehicles will be greatly reduced.
Minimum achievable targets were set for each year. The target for the current fiscal year 2023-24 is a 20 percent reduction in fuel-powered four-wheel vehicles, with only 22,626 four-wheel-drive vehicles able to be registered in the city, and a 70 percent reduction in two-wheelers allowing only 6. 202 new records.
As per details with the Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA), 5,500 two-wheelers have already been registered since April 1 and only 702 are left. From next year, no fuel-powered vehicles can be registered in Chandigarh. The move is part of the city’s effort to promote electric vehicles.
Chandigarh Auto Dealers Association protested at various levels against the decision. They even met BJP’s Chandigarh President Arun Sood in this regard. The ban was announced without proper preparation. How can Chandigarh become a carbon-neutral city when electric vehicles from other states keep entering? Unless vehicles coming from other states are simplified similar to Delhi, this problem will never be solved. The union representatives asked blacks why they were deprived of the livelihood of so many people.
The union sought to remove the mandatory registration cap for all classes of vehicles and that electric vehicles should be promoted “through encouragement and positive awareness, not through unilateral bans and coercion”. They also stated that “if there are any vehicle targets in the electric vehicle policy, they should be indicative and consistent with the national target”.
Sood said they had discussed the matter with the BJP’s senior leadership in Delhi. A few days ago, Mayor Gupta threatened to protest at the border and not allow any non-electric vehicle to pass if the ban on fuel-powered two-wheelers is implemented.
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