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The Centre will urge State governments to encourage usage of electric vehicles in the interest of sustainability, said Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy.
Goyal, who was in Chennai on Saturday to inaugurate a biogas-Compressed Natural Gas plant at the Mahindra World City industrial township, said Maharashtra will waive VAT, road tax and registration tax for all electric vehicles.
He had spoken to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis just minutes after inaugurating the biogas plant to consider extending these concessions, he said.
“I assure you I will make it happen for all electric vehicles and will discuss the issue with the Chief Minister over the next couple of days,” he said.
To kick off the programme fast, the BJP-ruled States will be among the earliest to come out with such support measures.
The Centre is also keen to encourage vehicles using alternative power sources such as biogas, hydrogen and CNG, he said.
Goyal complimented the Mahindra Group for establishing the 10-tonne biogas plant that will use organic waste to generate CNG to power vehicles. He discussed with Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra, on the possibility of extending the CNG module to other locations. This project can be duplicated in over 6,000 small towns with a population of more than 30,000, he said.
The Union government has focussed on structural improvements that will give long-term benefits rather than short term sops.
For instance, the price of power on the exchanges has dropped in the last two years to ₹2.35 a unit from about ₹11-18.
Renewable energy sector will be a key contributor to energy sustainability with India targeting a renewable energy generation capacity of 175 GW by 2022 including 100,000 MW of solar power. The current established capacity is about 34 GW of renewable energy.
The CNG plant at the industrial township about 45 km south of Chennai will use about 10 tonnes of food and kitchen waste daily to generate 1000 cubic metre of raw gas – about 400 kg of purified CNG daily – and four tonnes of organic fertilisers.
The gas will be used to fuel tractors, shuttle buses and street lights at the industrial township.
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