Kerala Budget | EVs, green buildings get a major push

ev-charger-new

Thiruvananthapuram: Electric vehicles are slowly making their presence felt on Indian roads. Leading automobile manufactures are rolling out even electric cars even as they persist with the gasoline versions. Already a few states in the country have framed an Electric Vehicle (EV) policy even as the national government has set an ambitious goal to phase out the conventional vehicles in the coming years. In order to encourage the use of EVs, the Kerala government has proposed in the budget for 2021-22 a subsidy of Rs 25,000-30,000 to 10,000 electric autorickshaws.

So far 2,000 EVs have been registered in the state. For encouraging the use of more EVs, the government will give 50 per cent exemption in Motor Vehicle tax (also known as road tax). This concession is available for hybrid battery-based electrical vehicles and fuel-cell electric vehicles for the first five years.

As many as 3,000 KSRTC diesel vehicles will be converted into CNG/LNG engines. The fleet of cars in government ownership would hereafter be mostly EVs.

The Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) will grant loans at 7 per cent interest for purchasing electric cars and at 10 per cent interest for converting diesel buses into LNG/CNG-based ones.

As adequate charging facilities are a prerequisite for the promotion and increased adoption of EVs the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) will open 236 charging stations in 2021-20, as per the budget announcement by Finance Minister Thomas Isaac.

LED lights

The ongoing programme to change street lights to LED lamps would be completed within a few months. The profit made by reducing the use of electricity would be utilized to repay the money to Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) in a few years.

So far 1 crore LED bulbs have been distributed to homes as part of the Filament-Free scheme. This scheme will be converted into a people's campaign in 2021-22.

Promotion of environmentally friendly buildings.

Environment-friendly buildings will be encouraged to avoid misuse of power and to ensure water conservation initiatives, the budget stated.

Such buildings will be eligible for concession in building tax.

Buildings getting more than 20 per cent electricity from non-conventional sources would get 10 per cent exemption in power tariff for a period of five years.

The KIIFB will grant Rs 250 crore for setting up rooftop solar plants. The amount should be repaid through Renewal Energy Service Company within five years.

KSRTC to get Rs 18,000 crore

As per the budget, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation or KSRTC would be given an assistance of Rs 1,800 crore for the year 2021-22.

A sum of Rs 1,000 crore has been set aside for salary, pension and loan repayment. Another Rs 225 crore has been sanctioned for the clearing the dues on account of money diverted from employees salaries and medical assistance allowance. Besides, Rs 30 crore has been earmarked for the modernisation of garages and workshops.

Rs 19 crore will be allotted for the e-governance initiatives of the public transporter.

A 2 lakh square feet building will be jointly constructed by the KSRTC and KIIFB on 2.89 acres of land at its Vikas Bhavan depot. Half of the income would be given to the KSRTC. The land will be given to KIIFB on lease for a 30 years period.

The KIIFB headquarters will also come up on this plot.

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