E-rickshaws will soon be back on Delhi streets. That, however, doesn't offer any comfort to the current owners of these battery-operated carriers. This, despite the astounding victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi Assembly elections.
The current rules and regulations allow only new vehicles purchased from two manufacturers - whose products were given all necessary clearances last week - to operate on 70 identified routes in the national capital. Under these rules, the driver, who would also be the owner of the e-rickshaw, needs to first buy a new rickshaw from either of these two manufacturers (the names have not been disclosed) and then obtain a licence and a public service vehicle (PSV) badge from the Delhi transport department. More manufacturers are waiting for safety clearances according to the notifications and guidelines issued by the state and the Union governments.
"We have already started the process of issuing learners' licences. After a month, they will be given permanent licences along with the PSV badge (which are required to run any public transport vehicle in Delhi). No one has been issued a permanent licence yet," said Sanjay Kumar Saxena, special commissioner at Delhi's transport department.
"We can expect these battery-operated vehicles to start functioning on Delhi's roads soon," he added.
However, the real problem lies with current owners of these rickshaws, which were banned and declared unsafe by the Delhi High Court last year. According to some estimates, around 350,000 people are dependent on 200,000 of such rickshaws for their livelihood. The ban had become a major issue during the Assembly elections, forcing the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre to come out with an ordinance. This was after the BJP's government failure to amend the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 in Parliament.
AAP, which has returned to power largely on the basis of votes from the bottom half of the society, was quick to raise the plight of e-rickshaw drivers who remained unregulated under the laws.
"E-rickshaw drivers of Delhi spent many months mired in confusion. They lost their livelihood for months due to the BJP's policy paralysis. AAP will formulate a clear policy and standards for the ownership and operation of e-rickshaws, keeping safety aspects in mind," AAP had said in its election manifesto.
However, a new AAP government can do little as the ordinance and rules were penned by the Union government.
"Arvind Kejriwal's government cannot overrule the Union government, which has already laid down very lenient norms for the registration of e-rickshaws. The Centre made a mockery of the safety procedures for vote bank politics," says S P Singh of the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training.
"The irony is that despite so much relaxed norms, only 10,293 people have applied for registration of their current e-rickshaws against the number of 200,000-odd vehicles. Kejriwal doesn't have the scope to further lower the safety standards because these products are substandard," he added.
Quoting a report by The Energy and Resources Institute, Singh said that currently, there were 51 types of e-rickshaws in the market, which needed to be cleared by appropriate authorities before they could ply on the streets. It is unlikely that these will get clearance.
According to AAP leader Roshan Shankar, his party will encourage e-rickshaw drivers for registration of their vehicles and apply for a PSV badge.
"We will fight for the rights of e-rickshaws and formulate a clear policy and standards for ownership, operation and safety," he said. He added the party would also "define a proper clear fare structure to ensure that consumers and e-rickshaw drivers' interests are kept at the forefront".
