Motorised cycle rickshaws under Delhi pollution board scanner

Unregulated cycle rickshaws which operate on the modified engines of old two-wheelers are now under the scanner of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), which has floated a tender to carry out a study to assess the air pollution impact of such vehicles, according to DPCC officials aware of the matter.

DPCC, in the tender, said these vehicles were mainly being used to transport commercial goods in several markets across the city and were using old engines, which can have a high pollution potential.

A senior DPCC official said the rickshaws have code names “jugnu”, “choudhry” and “radhey radhey” since they were essentially cycle rickshaws used to transport commercial goods and were not registered in Delhi.

The study was floated on January 9 this year after the department received several complaints about them. However, officials said they were yet to identify a company or an NGO to conduct the study.

“These rickshaws are unregulated as they are primarily just modified cycles that run with an engine. Since the engines were being procured from old two-wheelers, we believe there is a high pollution potential and the number of such rickshaws is only increasing,” said the official, adding that the study also aimed to identify how many such rickshaws are there in Delhi at present.

The official also said Anand Vihar was identified as one of the hubs of these modified rickshaws, with goods being transported both to the markets there, along with the ISBT and railway station in the vicinity.

“A study is being proposed by the DPCC on air pollution created by cycle rickshaws that have been fitted with old two-wheeler engines and are running in Delhi. These cycle rickshaws are marked with code names and are involved in transporting commercial goods in several markets in Delhi. It was observed that these vehicles are also creating the air pollution in Delhi. In this regard, DPCC is inviting a detailed proposal for the impact and analysis study, a ground survey of the number of such vehicles over time, their vehicle and engine types, and the potential air pollution caused,” said the proposal, a copy of which HT has seen.

However, a second official said that no action can be taken against these rickshaws unless their pollution potential was established. “Since they are not registered vehicles at present and we don’t know their pollution impact, we cannot issue fines. Once the study is complete, necessary action can be initiated,” the official said.

Amit Bhatt, managing director (India), International Council on Clean Transportation said such modified rickshaws are more commonly seen in the outskirts of the national capital region but may be gaining prominence in Delhi too. He said that most such vehicles have engines that do not meet the Bharat stage-I emission norms.

“Such rickshaws are popularly called chakkadas in Gujarat and as jugaad rickshaws in Uttar Pradesh. Since old two-wheelers do not have much salvage value, their engines are being used to modify these rickshaws. We still don’t know how many such rickshaws exist. However, since the engines are quite old, they must be causing a lot of pollution at the local level,” he said.