Delhi Government takes on a robust initiative to combat air pollution

The Delhi Government has taken on a robust initiative to combat air pollution in Delhi. Ride aggregators & delivery services will have to mandatorily adopt electric vehicles in their newly onboarded fleets. The Delhi Government has become the first in India to notify an Aggregator’s Policy to mandate EV fleets; draft policy has been placed for public opinion for 60 days. Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that the policy will provide a necessary push to the aggregator industry to become environment friendly.

Aggregators and delivery services would need to ensure 10% of all new two-wheelers and 5% of all new four-wheelers are electric in the next 3 months. Aggregators and delivery services will have to ensure 50% of all new two-wheelers and 25% of all new four-wheelers are electric by Mar 2023. Delhi Government will also be making a representation to the Commission For Air Quality Management to direct other states in the NCR area to also adopt the policy.

In another giant leap towards combating Delhi’s air pollution and achieving net carbon neutrality, the Government of NCT of Delhi under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, has notified a draft policy on 14th January 2022, to mandate all aggregators and delivery service providers to adopt electric vehicles in their newly onboarded fleets for operations.

In doing so, Delhi becomes the first Indian state to adopt an aggregator policy to regulate vehicular emissions from the ride-hailing industry. The aggregators such as ride-hailing services as well as delivery service providers (e.g., food delivery, e-commerce logistics providers, couriers) have altered vehicular patterns in Delhi. Cabs have been the most popular model, followed by buses, bikes and auto rickshaws, which have gained matured ridership and continue expanding their businesses.

As per the policy, aggregators and delivery services would need to ensure 10% of all newly onboarded two-wheelers and 5% of all newly onboarded four-wheelers are electric in the next 3 months (from the date of notification), while 50% of all new two-wheelers and 25% of all new four-wheelers are electric by Mar 2023.

Drafted in accordance with regulations set forth by the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2020, the aggregator policy proposes incentives to ensure the transition to EV amongst the ride hailing industry happens in a time bound manner.

To ensure the policy has large scale impact in reducing vehicular emissions not just in Delhi, but the larger NCR region, the Government of NCT of Delhi will also be making a representation to  CAQM to direct other states in the NCR area to also adopt an aggregator policy for EV uptake in operational fleets, that would allow for a transcending policy to combat vehicular emissions in the Delhi NCR area.

The currently approved draft policy has now been put in the public domain inviting suggestions and objections of the general public within a period of 60 days, post which it would be notified for implementation.

Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, “Delhi Government under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal has been a pioneer in taking measures to combat air pollution, this new policy would be first of its kind & will provide the necessary push to the aggregator industry to become environment friendly.”

Reena Gupta, advisor to the Environment Minister, while talking about the draft policy mentioned, “The essence of the proposed policy by the GNCTD is to ensure the entire spectrum of vehicles used by aggregators and delivery service providers are brought into the fold of a sustainable, clean and electric mobility, given the impact of large-scale adoption of clean vehicles and the serious concern over the air quality of Delhi.”

It is noteworthy that Delhi Government has been taking effective vehicular pollution initiatives throughout, including measures like better traffic management system, augmentation in public transport system, generating mass awareness, drives for checking adulteration, implementation of stringent emission norms for both new and in-use vehicles, an efficient PUCC system, improvement in vehicular technology, improvement in the quality of fuels, and switching over to cleaner vehicles.

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