Delhi govt to form panel to review suggestions on draft 'aggregator's policy'

The Delhi government has been making conscious efforts to move towards electric vehicles in a bid to reduce air pollution in the capital.In August 2020, it had introduced the Delhi Electric Vehicles policy which aims at increasing the EV share in total vehicle sales to 25 percent by 2024.

The Delhi government will constitute a committee to examine the suggestions and comments received from the public on the draft policy mandating all aggregators and delivery service providers to induct electric vehicles while procuring a new fleet, officials have said.

The government had issued the draft policy in the Delhi Gazette on February 8, 2022, inviting suggestions and comments from the public within 60 days.

After the policy comes into effect, aggregators and delivery service providers will have to ensure that 10 percent of their new two-wheelers and five percent of the new four-wheelers are electric in the first three months.

They will also have to ensure that 50 percent of their new two-wheelers and 25 percent of the new four-wheelers are electric by March 2023. The committee to review suggestions and comments is likely to be chaired by the Principal Secretary, Environment, an official said. It will have a member each from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Transport Department, Power Department, and Power Department.

The panel will also have an expert from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and a representative of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), he said. The Delhi government has been making conscious efforts to move towards electric vehicles in a bid to reduce air pollution in the capital.

In August 2020, it had introduced the Delhi Electric Vehicles policy which aims at increasing the EV share in total vehicle sales to 25 percent by 2024. A study conducted by IIT-Kanpur in 2016 showed that the transport sector accounted for 28 percent of the PM2.5 pollution in Delhi and 41 percent of the total pollution load in the capital. There are around 1.33 crore registered vehicles on Delhi's roads, according to Delhi government estimates.