Electric Vehicles registration: The Delhi government on Friday exempted electric, battery-operated vehicles from the registration fee in the national capital under its new Electric Vehicle Policy.

Taking to Twitter, Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said,” Congrats again, Delhi! Next in the list of breakthrough incentives promised by CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi govt exempts the Registration fee on Battery Operated Vehicles. Delhi leads again, the EV way!”

Chief Minister Kejriwal had in August launched the Electric Vehicle Policy announcing incentives of up to ₹1.5 lakh on the purchase of four-wheelers, ₹30,000 on two-wheelers, auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, and freight carriers, besides promising waiver of road tax and registration fee.

Earlier, the Kejriwal government had exempted road tax on battery-operated vehicles. The Transport Department in its notification issued last week had asserted the lieutenant governor of the National Capital Territory of Delhi exempted tax levied on battery-operated vehicles with immediate effect.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the decision “another crucial step towards ensuring a pollution-free Delhi”.

In August, Kejriwal had announced the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2020, promising to waive road tax and registration fee and to provide an incentive of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for new cars. The policy focused to enhance the adoption of electric vehicles in Delhi by incentivizing their purchase and use and raising registration to five lakh by 2024.

Mean-while, India’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 73,70,468 with 63,371 new infections being reported in a day, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 64 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 87.56 percent, according to the Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The coronavirus deaths climbed to 1,12,161 with the virus claiming 895 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed. For eight days in a row, the active cases of COVID-19 remained below 9 lakh.

There are 8,04,528 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 10.92 percent of the total caseload, while the recoveries have surged to 64,53,779, the data stated. The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to COVID-19 was recorded at 1.52 percent.

“India continues to have one of the lowest COVID-19 deaths per million population globally, currently pegged at 80,” the ministry said.