Day after drive ends, e-rickshaw chaos returns to city streets

Just a day after a month-long crackdown on e-rickshaws ended on April 30, their unchecked presence and chaos returned on the city streets on Thursday, with drivers once again found flouting the rules imposed to regulate them.

During a spot check on Thursday, it was found that e-rickshaws were operating in large numbers across multiple areas, including several of the 11 routes where its movement had been banned.

Despite repeated warnings and temporary enforcement in April during which 224 vehicles were seized, and 2,800 were challaned out of 11,000 which were checked, the return of e-rickshaws reflects lack of sustained oversight.

The e-rickshaws were seen operating on banned routes like between Hazratganj intersection and Burlington intersection, from Hazratganj crossing to Bandariya Bagh crossing, between Hazratganj crossing and Sikandar Bagh crossing, between Hazratganj intersection and Parivartan Chowk, among others. Their swamping number on Thursday and traffic diversion due to the programme of the Vice President in the city led to bottleneck in Hazratganj, 1090 crossing, Engineering college crossing among other localities.

“We were plying in the interior parts of Gomti Nagar locality as challans were being issued. Now that it is over, we will be able to drive on the main roads,” said an e-rickshaw driver near Kathuata crossing. “We have all the valid documents, but we were a little frightened as cops started seizing vehicles,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kamlesh Kumar Dixit, deputy commissioner of police (crime) who is having additional charge of DCP (traffic), when asked about the drive’s outcome said that details and effectiveness of the drive would be shared soon.

11,425 vehicles seized across state: Govt

“As part of the enforcement action, 3,784 unregistered e-rickshaws were issued challans, and 11,425 vehicles were seized. Additionally, 32,989 vehicles were challaned for various other violations. In total, 36,773 challans were issued during the campaign period,” said additional transport commissioner (Enforcement), Sanjay Singh, sharing the report of the entire month’s campaign.

On the instructions of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a month-long campaign was conducted from April 1 to 30 across all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh to crackdown on unauthorized autos and e-rickshaws, in order to strengthen law and order and ensure public safety.

“Even after the campaign’s conclusion, continuous monitoring, especially to prevent minors from operating e-rickshaws, will be ensured as per the chief minister’s instructions. This monitoring will be overseen from the headquarters,” said Brijesh Narayan Singh, transport commissioner, Uttar Pradesh.

“The campaign had a strong positive impact, earning public support for prioritizing safety and curbing illegal e-rickshaw operations by minors. It was led jointly by the Transport Department, police, and district administration,” he added.