Notification for plying of e-rickshaws soon: Gadkari

A final notification will be issued after ten days to allow e-rickshaws which have been banned from plying on the roads here by the Delhi High Court over safety issues, the government said today.

"A notification pertaining to e-rickshaw has been issued. We will put it on website and seek peoples opinion on it in the next ten days and will solve the problem immediately thereafter. We will issue (final) notification for plying of e-rickshaws after 10 days," Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

The court had on July 31 banned plying of e-rickshaws on the roads of the national capital saying "prima facie they are a hazard to other traffic as well as citizens".

Gadkari said the safety and other concerns raised over plying of e-rickshaws have been taken care of and necessary steps were on to bring their plying lawful with necessary modifications in rules and law.

He said he was pained that thousands of poor people were deprived of their livelihood due to ban on e-rickshaw but now the issue will be solved.

In reply to a query, Gadkari said, "I have nothing to do with the politics involving it."

The Delhi High Court on September 9 has said that ban on e-rickshaws in the capital will continue as they are illegal as per existing laws and had rejected Centre's plea to allow them to ply till rules are framed to regulate them.

A High Court bench had left it to Parliament and the Centre to decide what legislative changes need to be introduced to regulate the plying of e-rickshaws.

Seeking lifting of the ban, the Ministry of Transport and the association had pleaded that till the plying of erickshaws is made lawful by Parliament and Central Government, the court may permit their operation on the basis of temporary guidelines framed by the Centre.

It had said that lifting the ban would mitigate hardship caused to thousands of people who operate these vehicles and their families as well as to lakhs of citizens of the city who depend on erickshaws for last mile connectivity.