New Delhi: With the aim to easily identify electric vehicles, the central government has directed the state road transport departments to ensure that all types of electric vehicles, whether used or new, have green number plates. The declaration comes after last year, the government had announced green number plates for all electric vehicles, wherein the private electric vehicles were to get white letters on a green background whereas the commercial ones were to get yellow letters on the same.
The mandate of the green license plate, according to the government, is necessary to distinguish the battery operated vehicles so that they could redeem special perks proposed specifically for the EVs. The benefits of the green number plate include preferential treatment in parking, entry in certain ‘congested’ zones along with proposed concessions in tolls on the current road networks.
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When it comes to the commercial electric vehicles, the government is considering an exemption from permits, which may aid in boosting the number of e-rikshaws, e-buses and e-taxis, throughout the nation.
Speaking about the recent development, minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari said,
The government has approved distinctive green license plates for electric vehicles to encourage people to use them more. Exemption from permits will be a game changer as restricted permit regime is a major concern. E-rickshaw growth is attributable to the permit exemption and there is scope to extend the exemption to the e-buses, e-taxis, e-autos and e-bikes. E-auto and e-buses may have a big impact since getting a new permit is extremely difficult.
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Additionally, to help enhance the number of electric vehicles in the country, government has also proposed to permit the young adults falling in the age bracket of 16-18 years, to ride gearless electric two-wheeler without having a license. Further to this, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has also requesting the Finance Ministry to set the rate of depreciation on electric vehicles at 50 per cent compared to the 15 per cent rate for the regular vehicles.
According to a recent study by Greenpeace, 15 out of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are from India. Considering the rising air pollution in the country, electric mobility may help combat the issue of air pollution to some extent.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
