More than 13 lakh electric vehicles registered in country: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said more than 13 lakh electric vehicles are registered in the country.

This figure excludes the data of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Lakshadweep, the Road Transport and Highways minister said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Gadkari said under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) Phase-II scheme, 2,877 public EV charging stations have been sanctioned in 68 cities and 1,576 EV charging stations across 9 expressways and 16 highways.

''The number of electric vehicles in the country is 13,34,385 (excluding data of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Lakshadweep, which is not available in VAHAN 4) as on 14-07-2022 and a total of 2,826 public charging stations are operational in the country, as per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency,'' he said.

Gadkari said, according to the World Road Statistics (WRS) of the International Road Federation, Geneva, India recorded 1.5 lakh road accident fatalities in 2020, which was 26.37 percent of total road accidents recorded in 207 countries.

Replying to a separate question, he said there are 27,25,87,170 registered vehicles in India, which is 13.24 percent of the total 2,05,81,09,486 vehicles registered in 207 countries.

Asked whether the ministry is receiving complaints that toll is being collected from various toll roads even after the expiry of the period of the agreement under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and recovery of capital cost in the country, Gadkari replied in the affirmative.

''Complaints have been received in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) regarding the collection of user fee from All India Motor Transport Congress and Kolhapur District Lorry Operators Association,'' he said.

To another question, the minister said as of June 30, 2022, BOT operators are collecting user fees at 214 fee plazas as per their concession agreement with the NHAI.

In the last 8 years, Gadkari said 21 tunnels of 36.14 km have been completed and 56 tunnels of 95.08 km are under implementation on national highways.

Replying to another question, the minister said there are 1,056 gents and 1,060 ladies' toilets on national highways across the country.

Rajasthan has 112 gents and 113 ladies' toilets on national highways, followed by Tamil Nadu ( 66 gents, 66 for ladies) and Madhya Pradesh (69 gents, 63 for ladies).