With the aim to make Delhi the Electric Vehicle (EV) capital of the country, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday flagged off electric autos at the IP Depot. The Chief Minister said that with the launch of e-auto, 3,500 drivers, including 500 women, would now have livelihoods.
“Before flagging off the autos, Kejriwal also inspected every new auto and understood what benefit the consumers would get from these. He sat in the auto of a woman driver and asked her to drive around in order to assess whether women drivers would be comfortable driving the new e-autos. He later called the woman driver to the stage and appreciated her for her driving skills in front of the public,” said an official. On the occasion, Kejriwal said that for the first time, electric autos were being launched in Delhi, which is a matter of great pride for the people of Delhi.“The blue-coloured autos will begin to operate for public use on Delhi’s roads starting today. Keeping the situation of pollution in Delhi in mind, we are gradually initiating a paradigm shift in vehicles from fuel-based to electric ones. In this direction, these electric autos have been introduced, which will now regularly operate throughout Delhi,” said Kejriwal. “As a symbolic gesture, some of the men and women driving these e-autos were handed their official documents. The expression of bliss on their faces was truly heartwarming. They were extremely delighted to be receiving their papers, and the responsibility to run these autos,” said the CM. “On one hand, a number of people are getting employment as a result of this initiative.
Today, a quota of some 3,000-4,000 e-auto drivers has been released. 3,500 have been issued their LoI’s today, and they will now be able to operate e-autos on Delhi’s roads from now. As a result of this, 3,500 families will now have a livelihood, and Delhi will now have a large fleet of e-autos available for public use,” said the CM. “Within the first year of the implementation of the EV Policy, electric vehicles accounted for around 10 per cent of the total vehicle sales. This shows that there is a great amount of enthusiasm among Delhi’s public regarding this revolution in the transportation sector. It also proves that our EV Policy is a noble one, and its implementation is being received well,” the CM added.
Elaborating on the system of e-autos, Delhi’s Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, “We have developed a single-window system and partnered with DSL for the software. The purpose of this portal is the streamlining and efficient functioning of application as well as loan issuing process – all one has to do to secure a loan is register on the portal, and all required formalities are fulfilled via this portal itself.”
“A subsidy of Rs 30,000 is being provided on every e-auto by the Delhi Government and there is an additional five per cent rebate on loan rates. If one looks at our EV Policy, our goal is clearly stated that is to ensure at least one charging point is present within every three kilometre radius,” said Gahlot.
“The Transport Department has started the process of allotting 4,261 e-autos under its EV Policy 2020. For this, applications were invited through an online process in the months of October and November, 2022. A total of 19,846 applications were received from male applicants against the quota of 2,855 e-autos and 743 applications were received from female applicants against the quota of 1,406 e-autos,” Gahlot added.