New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) The Delhi government's transport department will launch an enforcement drive from July 15 to check violations under the Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme, officials said on Friday.

The scheme mandates that service providers register and acquire a licence under the policy for running cab and delivery services. The deadline for applying for licence was June 15 but the department had given a month's extension to service providers.

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"In a meeting held on June 11, the department officials said they plan to enforce the scheme from July 15," an official said.

Another transport department official said that so far, 20 licences have been issued under the scheme. Big players like Uber, Ola and Swiggy have already acquired licences, he added.

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"We plan to start an enforcement drive from Monday onwards. As part of the enforcement drive, drivers working with the aggregators will be fined. The violations will include plying without acquiring a licence as mandated by the scheme or not meeting the deadline for transitioning to electric vehicles," he said.

Licences issued under the scheme will be valid for five years. The scheme mandates service providers to ensure a phased conversion to electric mobility to reduce air pollution and enhance green mobility.

The entire fleet of all aggregators in Delhi will go electric by 2030. Violations will attract penalties ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh per instance.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), a not-for-profit digital services industry body with over 600 Indian and multinational corporations as its members, has written to Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot seeking an extension of 45 days for implementation of the scheme.

"Despite the industry's proactive efforts to prepare for compliance with the scheme, several significant challenges have surfaced that may hinder their ability to meet the July 15 deadline," read the letter.

The IAMAI cited issues like delay on the part of gig workers in submitting the requisite details, thereby making it difficult for aggregators to collect, verify and upload all documents onto the portal, and technical issues with the portal.

"The portal is facing frequent crashes and downtimes which is leading to delayed and lagging functionality. The portal is taking up to 48 hours to upload just 1,000 entries for vehicle details," it said.

In case the scheme is enforced from July 15 onwards, it will yield premature enforcement that will result in on-ground disruption of cabs, e-commerce services and deliveries in Delhi, millions of residents of Delhi not being able to leverage online platforms to hail cabs, get food and groceries and get access to goods at their doorstep, the letter said.

"We request the department to take cognisance of the fact that despite best efforts and sincere action taken, the industry as a whole will not be in compliance with the scheme by 15 July 2024. We therefore request your kind office for an extension of at least 45 days," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)