Noida, Jul 6 (IANS): The authorities have decided to not approve any building plan here until and unless it makes provision for an electric vehicle charging station in it.

Sources at the Noida Authority said a decision regarding this was taken, and subsequently the Building Manual, 2010 was amended on May 13.

Notably, as per March 25, this year, the number of electric vehicles in the country are 10,76,420 and as per the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a total of 1,742 Public Charging Stations (PCS) are operational in the country. Nine cities -- Surat, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai, account for approximately 940 stations.

"This move of Noida Authority will certainly give an impetus to electric vehicles and people will tend to buy it more," a Noida-based resident said.

The Centre has also made 360-degree efforts to enhance public charging infrastructure by involving private and public agencies -- BEE, EESL, PGCIL, NTPC, etc. Many private organisations have come forward to install EV charging stations to develop convenient charging networks to gain consumers' confidence.

The Ministry of Power had issued "Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles - the revised consolidated Guidelines and Standards" on January 14 this year to accelerate the E-Mobility transition in the country.

Under the Scheme for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase-II (FAME India Phase II) of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, 2,877 public EV charging stations have been sanctioned in 68 cities.