City’s poor rickshaw pullers may soon be seen driving the battery-operated rickshaws as Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) is mulling to gift them such modern rickshaws.“We are working on providing E-Rickshaws to the rickshaw pullers in order to uplift their livelihood under the National Urban livelihood Mission (NUlM) 2014-15. The distribution of the E-Rickshaws will be done after the Cabinet gives nod to the Policy framed for the plan,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Kumar.
He further added that the government may approve the Policy at any point of time so they have started focusing on the initial formalities essential for executing the plan. “As of now, we have floated the tender inviting the interested E-Rickshaw sellers. The deadline fixed for submitting applications of the interested sellers is July 13,” said Kumar.
While, Town Commissioner Prashant Kumar said the purpose of the plan is to improve the economic status of the rick-pullers. “E-Rickshaws will be distributed among the deserving rickshaw pullers at free of cost,” asserted the Town Commissioner.Sources informed manual rickshaw pullers riding the rickshaws for past three years and possessing a domicile certificate will be considered for the appreciation.
For an aged Rickshaw Puller near Sarjana Chowk, the news turned out to be a ray of hope. “People like me are looking forward to get the benefit,” he said.Meanwhile, some battery-operated rickshaw pullers welcomed the civic body’s proposal. “If the government is eager to replace the manual rickshaws with E-Rickshaws, it will certainly provide a better life to the poor-rickshaw pullers. Moreover, it will not create a competitive atmosphere for us since the number of battery-rickshaws in each route will increase,” said Battery Rickshaw Driver Paramjit Singh Bhatia.
According to the advertisement of the tender uploaded on the website of RMC on June 27, it is mandatory for the seller to own a Trade Certificate issued by District Transport Officer (DTO) and a Dealership Certificate.The registered battery rickshaws under these sellers must have a warranty of one year.
