It has come to light that the Maharashtra government has decided to postpone the implementation of its new Electric Vehicle (EV) policy by one year.
This development comes at a time when the state government has been encouraging and promoting new EV policy and vehicles, causing a perplexed situation.
According to the policy, from April 2022, all new government vehicles, either owned or leased, operating in major cities would have to be electric cars.
However, on Tuesday, April 12, the state environment department issued a government resolution (GR) amending an earlier notification that had made it mandatory for all government and semi-government agencies to purchase only electric vehicles from January 1, 2022, onwards.
With this, it is no longer essential for the government officials, who are constantly required to be on the field, to move around in electric vehicles.
Moreover, it has been observed that there are not enough charging stations across the state which makes it difficult for officials to tour extensively. In such cases a single battery can cover a limited distance. The battery then needs to be charged, which takes 3-6 hours, depending on its make.
Hence, several requests have been received asking for the mandatory use of electric vehicles to be relaxed in such cases.Meanwhile, there have been reports of several EVs catching fire. Recently, 20 electric scooters caught fire in Nashik area.
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