A more focused approach is needed to encourage electric mobility in the country instead of merely creating layers of agencies, the road ministry has suggested to the Niti Aayog.
"MoRTH ... has suggested to Niti Aayog that having multiple missions/verticals to work on the zero emission vehicles may lead to duplication of efforts. It was suggested that the Electric Mobility Mission (E-vehicle policy) proposed to be set up may subsume the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan," Minister of state for Road Transport and Highways Mansukh L Mandaviya said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
Replying to a query whether the government is aware of differences between Niti Aayog and Ministry of Transport over e-vehicle policy, Mandaviya said the MoRTH has suggested to include Road Transport and Highways Minister as Vice Chairman of the proposed Council.
Niti Aayog had earlier circulated a draft Cabinet Note for inter-ministerial consultation on developing a strategy to scale up transformative mobility for uptake of zero emission vehicles and ancillary technologies.
"MoRTH has further recommended that it would be appropriate to hold a consultation under Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, before finalising the Cabinet Note. A small group of experts and officers under Principal Secretary/Cabinet Secretary may be constituted to frame a more focused approach towards electric mobility," Mandaviya said.
He said the ministry also recommended that "the note should include allocation of specific resources as well timelines to give direction to the industry. Merely creating layers of agencies or supervisory mechanism may not help".
Last month, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that there is no need for a policy for electric vehicles (EVs) as an action plan has been prepared and a final call on EV policy will be taken by the government.
More From This Section
Kant has said that instead of trapping technology in rules and regulations, focus should be on promoting new innovations.
"Don't freeze anything for the country. Technology is always ahead of rules and regulations. It becomes difficult to change rules and regulations. Future will be shared economy, future will be connected economy and the future will zero-based emission policy," he has said.