Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Jharkhand Rickshaw Chalak Yojana, the State-proposed scheme to upgrade cycle rickshaw pullers of the State to electric rickshaw drivers.
Modi will be visiting Dumka, for giving impetus to the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, and Khunti, to unveil the solar power system there, on October 2. During this stay, he will also be handing over battery-operated e-rickshaws in a symbolic inauguration of the scheme.
This scheme was passed by the Cabinet in a bid to help rickshaw pullers of the State get a better a standard of living, and protect the environment from harm in the process.
The eligibility criteria set for the scheme is that the applicant should be a resident of Jharkhand, be 21 years of age and a rickshaw puller for at least three years. An advertisement was issued by urban local bodies of the State inviting applications from aspiring beneficiaries of this project in newspapers.
The applications received will be filtered by a screening committee formed by the Town Commissioner, Chief Engineer of the respective urban authority, DTO, traffic police officials and representatives of rickshaw pullers. A total of 500 e-rickshaws are to be allotted to cycle rickshaw pullers from all over the State.
Urban authorities have started selecting beneficiaries from their respective areas according to the guidelines set by State Government and prepare a list of the same. Beneficiaries can purchase e-rickshaws from designated agencies, selected on basis of rate contract.
These agencies that will also provide uniform and sports shoes to the driver, will be responsible for paying vehicle insurance for the first year and maintain the e-rickshaw free of cost.
Three-quarters of the price of the e-rickshaws will be borne by the respective urban authority whereas the applicant will be liable to pay one-fourth of the price of the vehicle. Funds to the corpus of `6.6 crore have been allotted to the State urban development department for this initiative. Out of this amount, `50 lakh has been taken from Tribal Sub plan, `2 crore from Others Sub Plan and `1.10 crore from Scheduled Castes Sub Plan.