Move to register, colour-code e-rickshaws gains pace, again
The move has been decided in the wake of the alleged rape bid and murder of a woman by an autorickshaw driver and his brother.
The district administration and Lucknow police have renewed their efforts to regularise the movement of thousands of e-rickshaws that ply the length and breadth of the state capital. Such commercial vehicles will now be colour-coded as per the eight zones that the city has been divided under by Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), officials said.
The move has been decided in the wake of the alleged rape bid and murder of a woman by an autorickshaw driver and his brother.
District magistrate Vishak G said: “We have laid out a broad action plan to regulate the plying of battery rickshaws. Our plan is to encourage all owners and drivers of e-rickshaws to register with RTO. Once we have the complete database of all battery rickshaws, we will then carry out a survey before deciding on the number of battery rickshaws to be allotted to each zone as per their requirement. The rickshaws will only be allowed to operate on their defined routes. Allocation of routes for e-rickshaw will be done through lottery.”
For the purpose, the DM and police commissioner Amrendra Singh Sengar have formed a committee of five senior officials comprising ADM (City East) Amit Kumar, additional DCP-traffic Ashok Kumar, additional municipal commissioner Pankaj Kumar, ADCP-HQ Anil Kumar and regional transport officer Sanjay Tiwari, who will coordinate with departments to set the move in motion.
“First, we must map the number of e-rickshaws plying in different parts of the city. The zoning system that has been proposed will be in sync with eight zones defined by Lucknow Municipal Corporation. At the transition point of two zones, there will be a parking area which will be developed by LMC. No e-rickshaws will be allowed to trespass. How many e-rickshaws will ply in each zone will have to be fixed,” the DM added.
The district administration will, however, ensure that commuters get hassle-free transportation on major destinations. “For instance, if a person hires an e-rickshaw for Charbagh railway station, he or she will not be asked to get down at different zones,” the DM added. He said that one of the benefits of the colour-coding was that traffic police constables would be able to identify a battery rickshaw plying on a wrong route.
“The lottery will be carried out in the most transparent manner for which an online portal will be created. Vehicle owners will be asked to express their choices. We are hopeful that our efforts will ease traffic problems triggered by e-rickshaws. A few years ago, a similar exercise was carried out but it did not achieve its desired result. We are hopeful that this time we will be able to make a breakthrough,” he noted.
Even last year, the city police had decided to regularise e-rickshaws with colour codes. However, it couldn’t be set in motion then.