The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in a letter to the government has asked to extend the deadline for fleet declaration, phased transition for electric vehicle (EV) and bike taxi and align the Delhi transport department’s portal mandates with Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Scheme, 2023.
What did the IAMAI say?
IAMAI has asked the government to extend the current deadline for existing fleets of June 14, 2024, by at least two months. The reason for this being low response rate from gig workers and operations issues. It further suggested awareness camps in order to encourage these gig workers’ compliance.
Further, a proposal for phased transition to electric vehicles for bike taxis to minimise operational disruptions is demanded. In fact, on January 22, the notification from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways advised states to accept and process applications for contract carriage permits.
In addition to this, the association requested the transportation department to incorporate a mechanism on its portal to declare low speed EV bikes a part of EV targets. It said that the inclusion of low speed EVs is essential to meet targets and support affordable EV adoption. Exclusion may discourage investment in low-speed EVs but it is crucial for sustainable transportation.
The industry body highlighted that clause 6.19 mandates phased EV transition within six months, but the portal requires bi-weekly compliance as bi-weekly compliance adds undue burdens on aggregators and drivers. It recommended to allow target achievement at an aggregated level by the end of six months.
Furthermore, IAMAI suggested that any vehicle offboarded by the transport department may also be removed from the total incremental induction of the vehicle so that EV mandates are applicable on the adjusted total incremental induction. It also said that the portal only considers newly onboarded vehicles for the total number of incremental vehicles for EV mandate calculations.
