E-rickshaws plying smoothly on the streets of Ranchi are likely to witness a bump as the Transport department is planning to bring erring operators back on the track in order to continue its operations in the city. Despite notices to get a license to operate, the office of the District Transport Officer is yet to see any application made to obtain license.
The battery operated rickshaws were not covered under the Motor Vehicles Act due to a lack of engine numbers. However, the guidelines were framed after a nationwide debate on the potential danger that such rickshaws pose to commuters.
“Despite issuing notice and awarding trade license no application has been filed by any e-rickshaw operator yet. We are planning a crackdown on them as that is the only way to make them understand. Since a traffic awareness drive is continuing we are considering actions once that drive ends,” said DTO Ranchi, Nagendra Paswan.
Notably, the department has issued trade license for selling vehicles in Ranchi and issued notices through various channels besides displaying the fresh set of guidelines for the e-rickshaws on the notice board at the DTO office.
The guidelines make it incumbent upon an e-rickshaw owner to file form 21 and 22 for registration before driving the vehicle on the road. As the environment friendly vehicle swelled in number due to its aesthetics and expanded its operations beyond Main Road the officials of the Transport department confess that non-compliance is a serious matter than cannot be overlooked. However, higher officials of the department seemed unaware of any progress whatsoever.
“We framed guidelines and now it is upto district authorities to implement it. They need to seize vehicles to force registration. Till now we have not been informed about any problems by district authorities in implementing the guidelines,” maintained Transport Secretary, Ratan Kumar.
The rickshaw has the capacity of boarding four to six passengers at a time. At present electric autos are ferrying passengers from Main Road, Kutchery Chowk and lalpur. These environment friendly autos are assembled at Delhi and it is brought at Ranchi based on number of demands generated.