Former Chandigarh MP Pawan Kumar Bansal Monday asked the Chandigarh administration to shed the quota system for registration of petrol/diesel and electric vehicles. According to the norms under the Electric Vehicle Policy, registration of internal combustion engine vehicles has been limited to a certain threshold number on a year-on-year basis. Bansal said that while every incentive to encourage switching over to electric vehicles is desirable, “the Chandigarh Administration has announced and re-announced the policy on apparently an ad-hoc basis without adequate application of mind, which is causing avoidable anxiety among the people of the city”. He added, “The glaring reality is that with limited production and availability of electric vehicles in the country, time is not yet ripe to ban registration of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles beyond a point. The decision to implement the policy at this stage smacks of arbitrariness on the part of the Administration.” Bansal further said, “The need of the hour is that the issue is addressed with a holistic and people friendly approach, while keeping the factors like availability of electric vehicles, the battery life (including difficulty in and environmental cost of discarding and recycling) in mind. In addition, the woefully inadequate number of charging points in the city, resulting in wastage of time by an owner of electric vehicle and total absence of this facility at one’s residence are other difficulties, which need to be tackled before the policy is promoted whole hog. Another factor which is leading to a lack of exuberance in buying electrical vehicles is the high cost thereof.” Bansal further said that the most glaring flaw in the implementation of the policy is that nowhere else in the entire country is there any such policy in force. "In fact, this is a matter which cannot be addressed only by Chandigarh on a stand-alone basis. The capping of registration of ICE vehicles has created a situation where city residents are going to Panchkula and Mohali for purchase of two-wheeler vehicles and the same will be the position in case of other vehicles after a month’s time resulting in revenue loss to the Union Territory," he added. Bansal demanded that the Chandigarh Administration should immediately withdraw its order of implementation of the Electric Vehicle Policy in the interest of the residents of the city.
