'10% of new vehicle registration will be for electric vehicles by 2025 in Maharashtra'

Due to climate change, the Maharashtra government has decided to promote environment-friendly vehicles in the state. The government will give preference to vehicles running on electric batteries. Maharashtra Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray at a press conference said that by 2025, 10 per cent of new vehicle registrations will be for electric vehicles.

Mumbai: Due to climate change, the Maharashtra government has decided to promote environment-friendly vehicles in the state. The government will give preference to vehicles running on electric batteries. Maharashtra Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray at a press conference said that by 2025, 10 per cent of new vehicle registrations will be for electric vehicles. He further added that sustainable and pollution-free vehicles will be promoted to reduce pollution in the state. Maharashtra also wants to be a leader in the use of electric vehicles in the country. The state wants to maintain its leading position in vehicle manufacturing.

Aditya Thackeray said, "our goal is to make the state a major producer and investment hub globally". The minister said that 25 per cent electrification of public transport will be completed in 6 major cities of Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Amravati, and Nashik. He added that around 2500 charging facilities will be set up in 7 cities by 2025. All new government vehicles in the state will also include electric vehicles from April 2022.

Aditya Thackeray said that new residential project developers will need a parking system with an electric vehicle charging facility from 2022. At least 20 per cent of electric vehicle parking will be mandatory. Charging facility equipped parking will be provided for 25 per cent electric vehicles in institutional and commercial complexes and 100 per cent in government offices.

Residential owners will be exempted from property tax for installing private charging infrastructure on their premises. In addition, a discount of Rs 10,000 will be given for the purchase of electric vehicles. A budget of around Rs 930 crores is estimated to implement the policy in the next four years in several phases, informed the Environment Minister.

During the press conference, Minister of State for Environment and Climate Change Sanjay Bansode, Additional Chief Secretary for Transport Ashish Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Manisha Mhaiskar, President of Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board Abasaheb Jarhad were present on the occasion.