Hundreds of e-buses and thousands of e-auto rickshaws will be running on the roads of the national capital in the next two months, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said last week. The minister handed out the first set of Letters of Intent (LOIs) to the first 20 people, including 10 women, who have been granted permits for driving e-auto rickshaws here.
"Delhi is making a huge transition from diesel and petrol to electric vehicles and in the next two months, the city will see hundreds of e-buses and thousands of blue and lilac e-autos running on its roads," he said. E-auto rickshaws in lilac colour will have women drivers and blue will be the colour in case of those being driven by men.
The Delhi government is procuring 300 e-buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), out of which two have already arrived, while the rest are likely to be rolled out in the coming months. Gahlot said that with the distribution of LOIs, a huge step has been taken towards not just reducing pollution and ensuring last-mile connectivity, but also in establishing a strong women presence in Delhi's public transport system.
Last week, the department held a computerised draw of lots for nearly 20,000 applicants to select 2,855 men and 743 women for issuing e-auto rickshaw permits. The successful applicants, who receive LOI, will be required to purchase an e-auto rickshaw and apply for registration on the single-window portal of the Convergence Energy Services Limited, within 45 days of its issue.
"I strongly urge the women in whose name the e-auto is registered, to drive the autos, since we will be strictly enforcing the same," Gahlot said. In October last year, the Kejriwal government had launched a scheme for registration of 4,261 e-auto rickshaws of which 33 per cent (1,406) were reserved for women drivers. The Delhi EV Policy in addition to a subsidy of Rs 30,000 also provides a five per cent interest subvention on loans, and all information about payment of EMIs, balance loan and interest subvention claims.
To promote entry of more women drivers in Delhi, the applications for the 663 remaining applicants, among the 1,406 reserved for women candidates, have also been reopened. The department has already received 25 fresh applications from women applicants since it reopened a day ago. Women applicants can apply for e-auto rickshaw permits till February 23.
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In case any slot still remains empty, then LOI for the remaining e-auto rickshaws from the women quota will be allotted to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The condition will be that such e-auto rickshaws are driven by women drivers only, said a transport department statement.
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