Ahmedabad rickshaw drivers seek cheap CNG kits

Autorickshaw drivers in Ahmedabad, while accepting the proposal to switch over to compressed natural gas (CNG), have said that they were not in a position to spend around Rs 20,000 for conversion and demanded that the government must make the conversion kits as cheap as possible. They have even asked the government to provide them with soft loans.

Attending an awareness seminar organised by the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPCL) on Sunday, the autorickshaw drivers said that while they were willing to adopt CNG, arrangements need to be made to make the kits affordable.

"Most autorickshaw drivers are economically weak. Government must either reduce the price of the conversion kits or provide soft loans for conversion," said Pranav Mehta, of the Ahmedabad Autorickshaw Sangh.

As of April 2002, there were 68,064 autorickshaws in Ahmedabad, 38,275 autorickshaws in Surat and 22,025 autorickshaws in Vadodara. The pollution control board has identified autorickshaws as one of the major contributors to the high level of air pollution in Gujarat. However, no date has been set for the conversion of 1.28 lakh autorickshaws of the state.

Ganesh Budhiraja, chairman of the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, said that Delhi autorickshaw owners had faced several problems while converting their vehicles to CNG. He said that all efforts should be made to ensure that rickshaw owners and drivers do not face the same problem here.

During the initial stages autorickshaw drivers had to spend the entire day in queue in front of the dispensing centres, and the CNG would last for not more than two days. "This meant that rickshaws spent more than ten days a month waiting in queues," Budhiraja said. However, the problem has now been sorted out and all the 58,000 autorickshaws of Delhi have been converted to CNG.

Rakesh Sood, president of the Delhi-based Bharatiya Krantikari Autorickshaw Chalak Mandal too said that CNG kit suppliers need to provide kits at lower price and added that the price should be uniform.

Autorickshaw owners will, on an average, save over a hundred rupees per day on fuel if they convert their vehicles from petrol to compressed natural gas, said Pranav Mehta, who is advisor to GSPC on CNG. In turn, the rickshaw owners will have to spend around Rs 20,000 for installing CNG conversion kits on to their vehicles.

State minister for petrochemicals and energy Saurabh Dalal assured the autorickshaw drivers that CNG will be far more cheaper than petrol and that other smaller issues will be sorted out by the state government.