Legal hurdle has been encountered in the registration process of electric vehicles which have been kept idly in Lumbini for a long time.

There is no provision in the Federal Transport Management Act to change white number plates into green ones and the Province Transportation Office has not made such law either.

According to the officials of the Transport Management Office of the Province, there may be legal problems later on if the rules are implemented based on just the decision of the Provincial Council of Ministers.

The Lumbini Province government decided to allow the operation of five electric buses and 14 e-vans that remained idle in Lumbini on April 21, 2023. The province government had also decided to convert those vehicles with white number plates into green ones.

The provincial cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of the then Chief Minister Leela Giri decided to operate electric buses in Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha. These electric buses have been remaining in Lumbini in idle condition for the last two-and-half-years due to legal barriers.

The Department of Transport Management Office has said that for this, it is necessary to amend the law rather than the government's decision.

Pushpa Raj Pandey, Head of Transport Management Office, Lumbini said that, there was no provision in the Act and no procedure has been made to alter white plate into green one.

"It is difficult to change the colour of the number plate based on the decision of the Council of Ministers only," Pandey said.

Pandey informed that he had written to the federal government for its opinion saying that the amendment of the law was necessary for this.

In the letter sent with the signature of the Acting Head of the Office, as there is no such provision in the current Act, Regulations, Procedures, Guidelines, Provincial Transport Regulations, necessary guidance has been requested regarding the conversion of the said vehicle from white number plate to green number plate.

A carbon copy notice of this has been sent to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Transport and Rapti Valley.

The Lumbini Development Trust has alleged that the decision taken by the government after completing all the legal procedures is an unnecessary obstacle to the registration due to the interests of some employees.

These EVs and some taxis were brought to Lumbini to make Lumbini pollution-free on November 24, 2020. However, due to delays in the registration process and lack of operational model, they have been left under the open sky for more than two years.

Foreign donor agencies have provided these facilities as a grant to connect Buddha's birthplace Lumbini and Buddha's with Tilaurakot, Ramgram and Devdah Sang from Gautam Buddha International Airport located in Bhairahawa and to facilitate the movement of tourists in those areas.

As the vehicles provided by foreign donor agencies are parked under the open sky, there is widespread criticism that the concerned agencies were not interested in the operation.

The Lumbini Development Trust has received EVs for Rs. 130 million as grant assistance under the clean energy project with the support of the Asian Development Bank.

When these electric vehicles were imported into Nepal, the government incurred more than Rs. 30 million customs revenue. For these vehicles, a charging station has also been built in Lumbini with an investment of Rs. 130.9 million.

Siddhicharan Bhattarai, treasurer of the Trust, said that despite the decision of the province government, the employees of the transportation office blocked the registration.

He said that such a huge endowment made by donors should not be allowed to go to waste.