Two battery-operated scooters on display at a showroom in Gaya. Picture by Suman

Gaya, July 4: Battery operated vehicles are not only environment friendly. They are also economical than the regular petrol-run vehicles. But these benefits have failed to attract bike users in Gaya, who have chosen to stick to petrol-run mean machines despite the rocketing price of petrol.

In the past four years, thousands of petrol bikes were sold as against 300 electric bikes.

“The district transport office here registered a sale of 3,278 two-wheelers in just two months — 1,424 and 1,854 in April and May, respectively. In the financial year 2010-11, the sale of 13,867 two-wheelers was registered in Gaya,” district transport officer Dinesh Kumar Rai told The Telegraph.

To boost the sale of electric bikes, the Union government has given a subsidy of Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,000 on various models. But the Bihar government is yet to respond in this direction. Instead of providing some relief, the state government has increased the value added tax (VAT) on battery-operated bikes. Earlier, VAT on these bikes was 12.5 per cent. Now it is 13.5 per cent.

“This is in sharp contrast to several states, including Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, that have waived off tax on the sale of battery-operated vehicles,” Ravindra Nath Bhadani, a dealer of battery-operated vehicles in Gaya, said.

“The governments of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka have imposed only 5 per cent VAT, while in Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the VAT rate is 4 per cent,” Bhadani said.

Bhadani’s son Vineet Bhadani told The Telegraph the demand for battery-operated vehicles had completely failed to take off in Gaya. “When this showroom was opened around four years ago, we used to sell around three to four bikes every month. Now, we sell around 15 bikes in a month on an average. The total number of battery-operated bikes sold in the past four years is only 300. As many as three battery-operated bike shops in Gaya were forced to shut down owing to poor sale,” Vineet said.

He said he was hopeful of people considering the battery-operated vehicles with the steep rise in the price of petrol.

“Of course, there are limitations of these vehicles. People cannot go on a long drive with these vehicles. But again, it is a fact that people in the townships do not go on a long drive that frequently and the electric bike is also convenient for moving around the township,” he said.

On power consumption of the vehicles, Vineet said: “Only one unit of power, which costs just Rs 3, is consumed to fully re-charge the bikes’ battery. And you can drive up to 50km.”

Upendra Kumar, who was the first customer of Bhadani in 2007, told The Telegraph he had “no problem” with the bike.

“Now, I have purchased another electric bike for my granddaughter, who is a student. It is economical when compared to the bikes that run on petrol,” he said.

Anita, a student riding on an electric bike for the past 18 months, said she had been able to save a lot more money than those who own petrol vehicles or commute on rickshaws.