Ban on E-rickshaws : Will the Government Find the Way Out?
August 6, 2014
http://www.elections.in/blog/ban-on-e-rickshaws-will-the-government-find-the-way-out/
Isn’t it amazing that in the last two years since the e-rickshaws were introduced on Delhi roads, the government failed to introduce any guideline to regulate them? Why did it turn a blind eye to all the traffic rules these e-rickshaws flouted?
True that these vehicles are eco-friendly, don’t pollute and provide the much needed last mile connectivity to commuters from their residential colonies to the nearest metro or bus stations. But the way they have mushroomed in absence of any regulation is, indeed, a cause of concern. On one hand the untrained drivers drive recklessly, congest the roads and slow down the traffic. On the other hand, there are reports of these drivers stealing electricity from poles to recharge the batteries of these rickshaws.
Naturally, accidents by these unaccounted behemoths on already unruly Delhi roads created a furore every now and then, the last time being an e-rickshaw hitting a lady from the back whose toddler slipped from her arms into a cauldron of hot sugar syrup and died. The tragic incident necessitated the court’s ban over e-rickshaws in the capital.
A Policy Failure
Yet, aren’t we making a mountain out of a molehill? The reason for all the ills is the inadequacies in the Motor Vehicles Act to cover e-rickshaws under its ambit as they are battery operated. As a result, they needed no registration numbers and driver’s license to drive them; they operated with four batteries designed to ferry four people, yet they carried even 10 passengers at a time. The passengers themselves were put at risk as they could not claim insurance in case of an accident.
But was it so difficult to amend the laws to bring these eco-friendly rickshaws within the ambit of law as they had already generated over a lakh jobs and bridged a critical gap in the city’s public transport system?
How could e-rickshaws be in the very first place allowed an entry into the Delhi roads without ensuring adequate provisions in the law? And what was the urgency for the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to render e-rickshaws illegal via a notification issued on April 24, this year? (According to earlier rules, three-wheeler vehicles with motor power less than 250W and speed less than 25kmph were regarded as non-motorised vehicles, but the amendment by recent notification to the Motor Vehicles Act withdrew this exemption).
On second thoughts, how could the Tripura Government pass a policy on e-rickshaws if the laws prohibited them?
Obviously, there appear many grey areas the way the issue has been treated by the Delhi government. It is understandable, therefore, that it has invited litigations.
Obviously, there appear many grey areas the way the issue has been treated by the Delhi government. It is understandable, therefore, that it has invited litigations.
I may like to recall here that in May this year, when grilled in the court of law, the Delhi government had sought to excuse itself on the grounds that it was “not competent’ to stop the illegally plying e-rickshaws as it would entail amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act – a central law. This led to the court issue a directive to the Chief Secretary to “file an affidavit disclosing under what circumstances e-rickshaws were allowed to ply. If the chief secretary agrees with reply of respondent 2 (Delhi government), then he shall disclose why no action was taken to prohibit import of e-rickshaws and why no action was taken to stop them from plying in Delhi”.
Amendment in the offing?
Drawing flak from all quarters, the government now claims a proposal is being considered to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and frame rules to take e-rickshaws with motor power of 650 watts or less out of the ambit of the legislation. It would enable the local bodies to frame rules and guidelines for regulating these vehicles.
The question still remains on the seriousness of the government to tackle the issue. Hasn’t the government woken rather too late to address the problem after the Court promptly ordered to stop them from plying till a legislation is framed to regulate them?
Obviously when it required a government resolve to amend the existing rules, the parties at the helm were rather too busy catering to their respective political constituencies during the election times! Remember it was the Congress’s Shiela Dikshit who introduced e-rickshaws in Delhi and assured their ‘trouble-free’ run? It was, indeed, the chosen vehicle of political propaganda for the Congress (as it pasted election posters on them), which allowed its proliferation by turning a blind eye to the rules, and exempting these vehicles from regulatory mechanisms. Yet the Congress lost elections and the Aam Aadmi Party, that took charge of Delhi with the overwhelming support of auto rickshaw drivers, naturally overlooked the critical concerns with regard to e-rickshaws.
Lip serving politicians
The lip-serving politicians are not missing any opportunity to capitalise on the fluid situation on the front of e-ricksaws. How else can one explain Union Transport Minister’s Nitin Gadkari’s recent announcement – before the court re-imposed the ban on them – that the battery-operated rickshaws will not be barred from operating in the national capital and will be considered as non-motorised vehicles? It is significant to note that Gadkari had made this declaration at a rally of e-rickshaw owners and drivers at the city’s landmark Ramlila Maidan! Wasn’t it something akin to the way AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal used to address his core constituency – the auto rickshaw drivers?
Obviously, politics is taking its toll on the about two-lakh e-rickshaw drivers/owners and their dependants. Isn’t this the reason that today both the political rivals, the Congress and the BJP, are busy shedding crocodile tears over the plight of the e-rickshaw drivers. The open display of their sympathy will surely increase now, given yesterday’s ultimatum to the Union Government by the Supreme Court to address the issue of the suspended animation of the state assembly within five weeks.
The prospects of fresh elections are all set to make expedient politics drag the e-rickshaw issue further. Doesn’t this reflect a sorry state of affairs when it comes to addressing the issues concerning common people?
If Government wants, it can Deliver
We know it well that if the government wants, it can deliver. Remember the speed with which the then Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi facilitated the setting up of Nano factory in the state? Remember how despite all corruption charges and delays, the Shiela Dikshit government in Delhi managed to successfully hold the Commonwealth Games – and Delhi did look tidier and organised then? Remember only recently how Prime Minister Modi ensured that by the time he left the Uri town (in Kashmir) by 4 pm, the only Central School in the region had got upgraded to class 11 and 12. Such instances galore.
Yet it is taking much time (two years!) to regularise e-rickshaws on Delhi roads. Isn’t it high time to keep expedient politics at bay to restore the people’s faith in the political system as much as the judicial system?
After all, doesn’t governance involve common men because they are the people who face the consequences?
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