Stalemate Over EV Charging Stations Finally Sees Action in Chandigarh

The three-month long conflict between Chandigarh administration and the municipal corporation (MC) has finally been settled after a committee formed by the MC gave its nod to multiple sites for the establishment of 44 electric vehicle charging stations in 32 parking lots. Now, 177 charging ports across the said EV charging stations will be set up across the city.

The said meeting was chaired by UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit.

The CREST or Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST) will look after the maintenance and management of the EV charging stations. The meeting held by the Municipal Corporation has also ordered that the CREST will also be responsible for drafting and submitting a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed with the Municipal Corporation to kickstart operations. The timeline stipulated for this is within a week.

Chandigarh faces the challenge of the absence of public charging stations. A few months back, the news of the first 23 public charging stations that the UT had established not being operational had surfaced.

Chandigarh has been proactively announcing initiatives to boost EV sector. The government had given its stamp of approval of 48 charging stations for Chandigarh under Phase 1 of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme. Last year, Chandigarh had announced its intent to become ‘Model EV City’ through a significant increase in EV penetration within five years.