New Town: 2% parking space for e-vehicles must in buildings

KOLKATA: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department has made 2 per cent of the car parking space in the buildings that will come up in New Town reserved for electric vehicles with charging facilities.

For plots above 10 hectares, 20 per cent of the car parking lot will have to be kept reserved for charging facilities of electric vehicles. Recently, the New Town Building Rules have been amended. This will be exempted from FAR and Ground Coverage calculations. However, mandatory car parking space has to be provided in all cases

New Town is the only city in the state to have introduced the Public Bicycle Sharing Scheme, which includes e-Bicycles too. It has over 30 charging stations across the city, both high and low speed, designed for 2 or 3 wheelers, personal vehicles and buses. In New Town, three Electric Buses have been running successfully for the last four years, carrying more than 300,000 passengers till date. It also has a substantial number of large and small Solar Energy Plants, generating 1.27MWp power across 16 plants, including three large ones on canal tops.

It may be mentioned that in the West Bengal Electric vehicle Policy, New Town has been designated as a preferred place for launching new pilot initiatives.

To encourage more and more people to use electric vehicles, a three-day fair will be organised in New Town from September 24 to 26. There will be stalls, where the EV manufacturers will answer the frequently asked questions by the users. There will be stalls given by the banks. The visitors can take test drives of EVs. There will be interactive sessions every day. The state Power department has given EVs to the chief secretary, some additional chief secretaries and ministers.