e-charging stations installed in D'sala lying unused for 3 years
As the state government is pushing for use of electric vehicles in the state, the issue of nine electric stations installed in Dharamsala under the Smart City Project is once again in focus. The electric charging stations were lying defunct and did not have even electric supply since they were installed about three years ago. The equipment of the electric charging stations had started decaying, illustrating wastage of the public money.
The efforts of the Dharamsala Municipal Corporation, which provided land for installation of electric charging stations, to contact the company which installed the equipment have failed to generate any response.
Commissioner of Dharamsala MC Zaffar Iqbal, when asked, said he had written three letters to company which installed the electric charging stations but no response has been received. “Initially, the company officials picked up phone calls but now they have even stopped picking up our phone. The MC would trying to contact the company or else would look into options to initiate legal action against them,” he said.
As many as nine electric charging stations were installed in Dharamsala under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electrical Vehicles (FAME) scheme of the Government of India. Despite the fact that lakhs had been spent on setting the electric charging stations they have no power to charge the electric vehicles. The electric charging stations have been lying unused for the past three years and are getting damaged due to lack of upkeep or use by the people.
The electric charging stations were installed at various places in Dharamsala, including near the Dharamsala international cricket stadium during the stint of previous BJP government. They have been lying unused for the past about three years now.
It was only recently after some complaints were made regarding non-working electric charging station that Dharamsala municipal commissioner carried out an inquiry into the working of electric stations and found that the machines were not working.
The MC Commissioner said after the inquiry it was found that these were installed by a Rajasthan-based company which got the contract from the Union Ministry for Heavy Industries. During the inquiry, it was found that vital infrastructure such as power transformers and other equipment have not been installed due to which the electric charging stations were not functional.
The Dharamsala MC has allotted prime land to the company for installing 10 electricity charging stations in the city. However, the company installed nine electric charging stations all of which were non-functional.
Around 400 e-vehicles were registered in Kangra district in the last one year.
The sources said that the electric charging stations were installed by Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited. Another company was to look after the operation and maintenance of all these charging stations. At the conclusion of each operational period, M/s REIL was to reimburse Dharamsala MC Rs 1/kWh of power units used at these charging stations.
