E-rickshaws steer clear of main roads as inspection drive begins

A 30-day-long statewide campaign against illegal e-rickshaws and autorickshaws, which began Tuesday, saw police coming down heavily on drivers of such commercial vehicles. In the state capital, police chose Hazratganj, Polytechnic, Awadh, IT and some other major intersections to crack down on the violators, prompting many to stick to bylanes and arterial roads to avoid being held up. Passengers, too, bore the brunt of the inspections.

The crackdown was taken up days after the kidnapping and murder of a 32-year-old woman by two auto-rickshaw drivers, in Malihabad near Lucknow. Ram Awatar, an e-rickshaw driver who usually picks passengers from Kathauta Crossing, said he and several others avoided main roads and chose internal roads in Vibhuti Khand to reach Lohia Path. Santosh Singh, another e-rickshaw driver, said: “I have valid papers —from my driving license to the vehicle fitness document.



Many of my friends got their e-rickshaws sized. We’re now scared if we’ll ever be able to drive on main routes.” At Polytechnic Crossing, police officials were seen interrupting autorickshaws and e-rickshaws to digitally inspect their documents.

“A mobile application is helping us figure out every little detail of vehicles. We can also find out if a driver has failed to meet parameters mentioned in the MV Act,” said traffic sub-inspector Mritunjay Nath Sharma. At Hazratganj, one of the busiest areas in the city, officials from station house officer Vikram Singh to additional deputy commissioner Manish Singh took part in the drive.

The cops were seen stopping commercial vehicles plying the no-permit zone. Across the state, 3,035 operators were issued challans and 915 e-rickshaws seized on the first day of the inspection drive. The month-long campaign is seeing officials from police and transport departments, and district administrations coming heavily on unverified drivers.

As per data shared by the transport department, the highest 381 e-rickshaws were seized in Ghaziabad division, followed by 363 in Agra division, 200 in Lucknow and 199 in Jhansi. The data was confirmed by the campaign’s nodal officer and additional transport commissioner (Enforcement) Sanjay Singh. Transport commissioner Brajesh Narayan Singh said the campaign, launched on the orders of the chief minister, was being closely monitored.

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