Ghaziabad: Traffic police start ban on e-rickshaw movement on Hapur Road
No e-rickshaw is allowed to ply on Hapur Road from Old Bus Stand to Dasna rail overbridge adjacent to NH-9 from 7am to 10pm.
On Monday, when the ban on e-rickshaws on Hapur Road in Ghaziabad came in effect, the traffic police impounded 20 vehicles for plying in the restricted area. Traffic police said they have deployed personnel at all major intersections on the five kilometre route to enforce the ban.
No e-rickshaw is allowed to ply on Hapur Road from Old Bus Stand to Dasna rail overbridge adjacent to NH-9 from 7am to 10pm.
Officials said the stretch generally witnesses the movement of about 2,500 e-rickshaws daily.
“Monday was the first day of restrictions and we seized 20 e-rickshaws. Their owners will be fined under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act,” said Piyush Kumar Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (traffic).
Officials had announced last week that Hapur Road, connecting Ghaziabad city to NH-9, will be out of bounds for e-rickshaws as these vehicles were hindering the flow of fast-moving traffic. Also, e-rickshaws often park on the roadside in search of passengers, thereby further choking traffic flow.
Last week, e-rickshaw drivers had protested against the move and submitted a memorandum to the traffic police.
“If we cannot use Hapur Road, then we will have to move through internal lanes and that further increases the distance that we travel. For instance, if we have to go to district court from Old Bus Stand, we usually travel about a kilometre. With Hapur road out of bounds, this distance will now increase to about 4-5km,” said Rakesh Kumar, an e-rickshaw driver at old bus stand.
Commuters also said that they will now have to break their journey as autos do not move to residential localities and on internal roads.
“Now, we have to take an auto to traverse Hapur Road and then deboard to take an e-rickshaw to move to internal areas such as Shastri Nagar, Govindpuram, Harsaon etc. This will become more cumbersome,” said Manohar Singh, a commuter.
Officials said that e-rickshaw drivers met them with their memorandum.
“We asked them to comply with the directions and use the services roads along Hapur Road. They must not ply on the main road. We are also considering a similar arrangement for other major roads. But that will be done only after all major roads are provided with service roads so that e-rickshaws can ply on them,” the ADCP said.
According to official estimates, there are about 14,000 e-rickshaws plying in the jurisdiction of Ghaziabad city.