‘No permit needed for CVs that use alternative fuels’

The Minister for Road Transport and Highways was speaking at the 58th annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). “I am happy to announce that we have decided that electric vehicles and all vehicles which operate on Ethanol, Methanol, Bio-diesel, CNG will not require a permit,” Gadkari said. The minister told the convention that the move will open more business opportunities for the industry. 

Transport ministers of all the state governments have given their unanimous support to the criteria. “Now, the states will implement it and there will be no need for any permits for electric auto rickshaw, buses and taxis....” Besides, Gadkari informed the convention that the central government is going to cancel the requirement of speed governors.  

“We don’t need it as we are developing good roads. There is no need to limit the speed artificially,” he said. The minister asked the automobile industry to offer better engines and produce high performance vehicles.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday assured the automobile industry of a steady supply of Bharat Stage-6 (BS-6) emission norms compliant fuel by 2020. The Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship was speaking at the SIAM conference. 

“BS-6 is already in the national capital and there shall be no uncertainty from our side on the things decided together (with multi-ministry and the SIAM association) that from April 1, 2020 supply for BS-6 fuel will be done and there shall not be any change on that front,” Pradhan said.

“The industry must go ahead with its plans for the next 10 years without fear of any intervention or change.” The Indian auto industry will fully migrate to manufacturing of only BS VI compliant vehicles on a pan India basis from April 1, 2020. Earlier, the government had decided to “leapfrog directly from BS-IV to BS-VI grade by April 1, 2020, skipping BS-V altogether.” The BS-IV grade transportation fuels were rolled out across the country from April 1, 2017.

Soon it will be possible to use one smart-card to travel on every public transport service across the nation as the final trials for one-nation-one-card would be held in the next few months, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Thursday. 

He said a lot of work has already been done on the one-nation-one-card policy after consultation with all stakeholders. “All the back-end technology work has been done on this and probably in the next three-four months, we should be able to hold the final trials and testing cutting across rails, metros, and buses,” Kant said.