Hyderabad: Telangana Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Thursday, January 8, said that since the introduction of the electric vehicle (EV) policy in the state, the number of EVs has gone up to 2,58,325 from 4,376.
Speaking at the 43rd meeting of the Transport Development Council held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the minister said that electric vehicles are being promoted in a phased manner in Telangana.
The meeting, chaired by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, was attended by the minister and other officials of the Transport Department.
He also mentioned that under the scrap policy introduced in 2024, incentives such as tax reductions and waiver of penalties are given for scrapping old vehicles.
He said that the state government also issued strict directions for the scrapping of government vehicles that are older than 15 years. Additionally, a green tax has also been imposed on private vehicles to encourage the scrapping of polluting vehicles.
The minister added that fitness inspections have been made more stringent and 37 automated testing stations are being set up to check vehicles that do not meet the fitness standards.
Automated driving testing tracks will also be set up in the state, which will use cameras, sensors and AI for issuing driving licenses and reducing reliance on manual systems, Ponnam Prabhakar said.
Additionally, for the safety of the public, location tracking devices have been installed in public transport vehicles to enable monitoring through an integrated command and control centre.
He said that the Sarathi-NIC application is being implemented in the state to issue driving licenses and that the Vahan-NIC application will soon be implemented for vehicle registrations.
The Transport Minister said that Telangana is also planning to establish a world-class transport academy and two more Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) in the state.
Apart from this, truck terminals, parking yards and private bus stands will also be constructed in Hyderabad, and Road Transport Offices (RTO) will be modernised in line with passport offices.
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