Battery rickshaws are still inundating Lucknow’s streets, and the police and transport office are still playing a blame game.

LUCKNOW The number of uncontrolled e-rickshaws is increasing even as law enforcement and the transport department blame each other in an apparent never-ending blame game over inaction. The number of e-rickshaws already in use is astounding—44,000—and police claim that this number well exceeds the city’s actual demands. These three-wheelers receive preferential treatment not given to other public transportation vehicles due to a deficient monitoring mechanism in place and delays in implementing restrictions.

Joint Commissioner of Police Upendra Agarwal proposed the implementation of a color-coded permission system in a letter dated September 30 in response to the city’s unceasing e-rickshaw expansion and numerous complaints. This method would designate particular colors to each route or zone, making it simpler for traffic authorities to spot and detain e-rickshaws that are operating outside of their permitted zones.

The implementation of this color-coded permit system is still in the planning stages, according to Assistant Regional Transport Officer (Lucknow), Akhilesh Dwivedi, and could take at least another two months.

According to Additional Transport Commissioner (enforcement) VK Sonakiya, “E-rickshaws in U.P. are exempt from the requirement of getting a permit and paying any tax, though taking a registration is a must for them.” Over 44,000 e-rickshaws are already operating in Lucknow with no restrictions, and they are free to operate in any zone, locality, or area.

The RTO asserts that as many as 10,000 of the city’s e-rickshaws may be unsafe for operation in Lucknow, despite the fact that a sizable number of them are still driving the city’s roads with inadequate maintenance and excessive loads.

In accordance with Section 59 of the Motor Vehicles Act, public transportation vehicles must be retired from operation after a predetermined amount of time, allowing new vehicles to take their place. Only about 10,000 of the 44,000 registered e-rickshaws are now deemed unfit, according to the RTO, and frequent fitness inspections are carried out.

“The RTO tracks the registration dates of e-rickshaws and performs required fitness inspections every two years. Even though we let e-rickshaws to run for about 5 to 7 years, we make sure fitness inspections are carried out every two years. According to Dwivedi, traffic police are also permitted to do fitness inspections on poorly kept street cars.

The 10-day registration freeze is too fleeting.

The U.P. Police urged the RTO to temporarily stop new registrations due to the growing number of e-rickshaws swarming the city. Before adding more e-rickshaws to Lucknow’s streets, this initiative intended to improve management of the ones that were already there. However, this warning was only followed for about 10 days in July, according to a regional transport official, who added, “Since then, we have been accepting registrations as usual.”

“E-rickshaws were first intended to be used on feeder routes rather than on major thoroughfares. However, there is no state-wide policy in this area that the transport department is aware of. The previous administration’s urban development department pushed e-rickshaws, so they need to have a policy governing how they operate, continued Sonakiya.

Source- Travel daily