Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari announced, at the recent 58th Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ (SIAM) convention, that with the unanimous decision of all the State transport Ministers, he has decided to do away with the permits of alternate fuel vehicles. The list of alternate fuel includes electric cars as well as methanol, Bio-diesel and CNG.
The step has been taken to promote the use of alternate fuel by fleet operators. How you ask? Well the process of issuing and renewing of a permit quite tedious and expensive. In order to save themselves from the high cost and detailed paperwork, fleet operators will instead chose to opt for alternate fuel vehicles. Commercial vehicles like buses, trucks and cabs require to make a permit in order to ply on the roads. Failure to do so would attract heavy fines and penalisation.
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Minister Nitin Gadkari also mentioned that the exempt would not be applicable on mild-hybrid vehicles. The step would make sure that with the use of cleaner alternate fuels, there shall be much less pollutants released in the environment. This step would soon be followed by second phase of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles) India scheme which would provide subsidies on electric and hybrid cars. So the Government of India seems to be on the right step towards a better, pollution free future.