Chandigarh admn to stop registering non-electric two-wheelers from Oct, cars from Dec
Since April this year, as many as 11,254 non-electric two-wheelers have been registered in Chandigarh till date; as such, only 822 more can be registered now.
The UT administration has decided to halt registration of non-electric two-wheelers from the first week of October and even non-electric four-wheelers by December, as the number of such vehicles permitted in 2023, as per the Electric Vehicle (EV) policy, is expected to be met by then.
UT had rolled out its EV Policy in September 2022, applicable for five years, during which it plans to gradually stop registering fuel-run vehicles to dissuade people from buying vehicles that cause pollution.
“According to the policy target, only 12,076 two-wheelers with internal combustion engines (ICE) are to be registered in the city till December this year. After this, their registration will be stopped and only electric two-wheelers will be registered,” said Pradhuman Singh, Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), UT.
Since April this year, as many as 11,254 non-electric two-wheelers have been registered till date. As such, only 822 more can be registered now.
In the case of ICE four-wheelers, new registrations will not be done after their number reaches 15,465 that UT expects will happen by December. So far this year, 12,937 such four-wheelers have been registered in the city, leaving scope for only 2,528 more.
Earlier in June, UT had decided to stop the registration of non-electric two-wheelers after achieving the target of 6,202. After facing criticism for the stringent capping, the UT administration in July had relaxed the target substantially, taking it to 12,076.
While earlier it had decided to register electric and conventional two-wheelers in 70:30 ratio in 2023, it had brought it down to 35:70, allowing registration of 70% non-electric two-wheelers in the current year.
“The administration’s decision will shut our businesses that were established by spending crores over the past five decades. Such capping on the sale of fuel-run vehicles is not done anywhere else in the country,” said Ram Kumar Garg, finance secretary, Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association, Chandigarh.
UT’s EV policy is aimed at making Chandigarh a “Model EV City” by achieving one of the highest penetrations of zero-emission vehicles within the policy period of five years. It aspires to mitigate the environmental impact caused by conventional vehicles and establish Chandigarh as a leading EV city.
