Authorities up the ante against e-rickshaws playing sans registration in Ludhiana

In the wake of ever-rising traffic congestion on city roads, the state transport authority announced plans to tighten the noose around e-rickshaws running sans registration plates. The number of e-rickshaws has increased manifold of late, with those plying without registration plates posing a challenge for the traffic police.

To put things in perspective, only around a few hundred e-rickshaw drivers and owners have registered their vehicles with the regional transport authority (RTA). The number of e-rickshaws plying on city roads, however, is estimated to be around 20,000.

Complaints about slow-moving e-rickshaws — averaging a speed of 25-30 kmph — slowing down traffic have become commonplace.

Transport authority officials say it is mandatory to get an e-rickshaw registered, but the registration process for e-rickshaws is moving at a snail’s pace with ambiguity surrounding the process. Notably, the guidelines regarding routes, permits, and stoppage of e-rickshaws have not been cleared so far.

To get an e-rickshaw registered one needs forms 21 and 22, the e-rickshaw bill, a temporary number plate and insurance, but the awareness has simply not trickled down to the masses.

Speaking of the same, e-rickshaw driver Deepak from Janta Nagar said, “On December 6, police issued a challan of ₹20,000 for me driving the rickshaw without a permit and registration certificate. I was unaware of the registration of the e-rickshaw in the first place.”

Notably, a fitness certificate and permits are not mandatory for e-rickshaws, but owners are still not getting themselves registered. They instead are increasingly opting to ply them in the city immediately after purchase.

Addressing some of the issues being faced by the driver, the Zilla Auto Rickshaw Workers Federation president Satish Arora said, “Road tax is collected from e-rickshaws only in Punjab. One has to pay ₹3,300 as road tax and or face a fine of ₹8,000 with 1.5% interest.”

Complaining about traffic police, Arora said, “E-rickshaw does not come under the Motor Vehicle Act, so I don’t understand under what provisions are the traffic police issuing challans to e-rickshaw drivers.”

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP traffic-I) Charanjiv Singh Lamba, meanwhile, said, “It is very challenging for us to catch the violators without registration certificates, number plates, and licences.”

“We impound vehicles of those caught in the visible offence. Last week, 10 e-rickshaws were issued challan. E-rickshaws are also slowing down traffic. We have written to the RTA to register them,” he added.

Prince, another driver, meanwhile, said, “I applied for registration three months back but till now haven’t received a number.”

Seeking improvements in the overall process, Ludhiana Electric Vehicles Dealers Association chairperson Shubash Malik said, “We requested the RTA and transport authorities to provide us an online system to issue a registration certificate to e-rickshaw buyers.”

“E-rickshaws cost between ₹1.25 lakh to ₹1.50 lakh depending on different models. There are steel-body and iron-body e-rickshaws available in the market. We ask for an Aadhar Card as proof from the buyer at the time of purchase,” he added.

Despite multiple attempts to reach out, RTA’s Narinder Singh remained unavailable for comments.

EV policy to be introduced in a week

Joint state transport commissioner Manjit Singh said, “The e-vehicle policy will be introduced within a week. The draft of the notification has been sent to the government. After the implementation of the policy, strict action against violators will be initiated.”