The government agencies in Delhi including the three Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCDs), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Public Works Department (PWD), Transport department, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), DSIIDC, etc, will carry out a comprehensive planning exercise in the next two weeks to identify concessional locations within their jurisdictions for the purpose of setting up public charging stations.

According to an official release, through this exercise, the Delhi government will roll out a coordinated strategy to setup 200 public charging and battery swapping stations at prominent locations in the city.

This was among the key decisions taken at the first meeting of the Charging Infrastructure Working Group of Delhi Government under the Chairmanship of Jasmine Shah, Vice-Chairperson, Dialogue, and Development Commission of Delhi.

In addition to public charging stations, establishing charging facilities in restricted public spaces such as malls, office complexes, group housing societies, hotels, education institutions, hospitals etc. was also identified as a priority at the meeting.

Last month, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a press conference had also rolled out a new electric vehicle policy to boost the economy by creating jobs and also reduce air pollution in the national capital. Under the new policy, buyers of electric two- and three-wheelers, and electric cars will be liable for financial assistance from the government, along with a ‘scrapping incentive’. Kejriwal underlines that through this policy, the government expects registration of five lakh new EVs within the next five years.

The policy also laid special emphasis on the accelerated rollout of public charging infrastructure as a key enabler in the rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Delhi.

“Delhi government will soon be rolling out financial incentives promised under the EV policy. By creating a Charging Infrastructure Working Group, the Delhi government has brought on board all the different agencies and DISCOMs of Delhi to initiate work on the accelerated rollout of charging infrastructure in a collaborative manner. This is critical to realising CM Arvind Kejriwal’s vision of making Delhi the EV capital of India and among the top cities globally in terms of EV penetration”, said Jasmine Shah.