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Jai Bhagwan Goel, a politician active in Delhi circles who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in February, was instrumental in getting a significant rally convened on June 17.
In the rally, he managed to win back a cause, and vote bank, being taken over by Aam Aadmi Party Leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Goel brought together the Battery Rickshaw Association, a group of 20 importers and manufacturers of e-rickshaws, and Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, who attended the gathering with the important news of the day: e-rickshaws, battery-operated vehicles that ran at a speed of 20-22 kilometres per hour and seat four or six, functioning as cheap public transport, were out of the ambit of the Motor Vehicles Act that governed the registration, licensing and movement of vehicles.
This is a major victory for e-rickshaw makers, owners and drivers.
“It (the rally) was organised by us. Since Mr Gadkari comes from a business background, he understands our concerns”, said Nitin Kapoor, vice-president of the association, an alumnus of Symbiosis, Pune, and part-owner of one of the few companies that manufacture e-rickshaws in India.
Most e-rickshaw companies import parts from China and assemble the vehicles in the country.
E-rickshaws have had a turbulent ride in Delhi since the first one was spotted in 2012.
Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated an e-rickshaw that year, supposed to ply inside neighbourhoods.
In 2013, the number of these vehicles grew, but her government issued a notice declaring them illegal.
The vehicles continued to run, now below-the-radar.
The drivers were poor, Bihari migrants; owners of these e-rickshaw stands doubled from their role as cycle rickshaw owners.
Motor or not
At the heart of the e-rickshaw debate is that this mode of transport, unlike cycle rickshaws and cycles, has a motor.
This, and its speed, make it a category in the Motor Vehicles Act.
And that means rules pertaining to registration of these vehicles, and licensing of drivers, apply.
By putting these vehicles out of the Act, Gadkari has released them from these rules.
Rajendra Ravi, who has worked in the field of urban transport for nearly a decade, says 50 per cent of all business in India, including transport, is conducted in the unorganised sector, of which e-rickshaws are a part.
Yet, the government neglects this area.
Ravi has seen the ups and downs of the e-rickshaw politics, right from the Sheila Dikshit government.
He feels these vehicles cannot be left out of the ambit of all rules and regulation.
Bhagwan Goel, the BJP member who helped organise the e-rickshaw rally, says the association for e-rickshaws will step in to train and license drivers. Plus, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi can do the job.
“E-rickshaw drivers come from the lowest segment of society.
"I did something for them because I felt they should also feel achche din aa gaye hain (the good days are here, a popular BJP slogan),” said Goel, who heads the Rashtravadi Shiv Sena, a faction of the Shiv Sena which broke away a few years ago.
Killer roads
The e-rickshaw flip-flop typifies the utter chaos on roads in India’s metros, which arises because a multiplicity of authorities are responsible for a city’ traffic.
After the death of Minister Gopinath Munde in a road accident, the new BJP government woke up to India’s killer roads.
Some amendments are planned in the Motor Vehicles Act.
But people such as S Rajasreekaran, a doctor who filed a PIL in the Supreme Court, rue the complete lack of accountability that people in authority have on road accidents.
“The government is quite happy to be away from it all,” said Rajaseekaran, who heads the department of orthopaedic surgery in Ganga Hospital in Coimbatore.
“India has no social security.
"If you die, or are disabled in a road accident, no one is held responsible.”
Every hour, about 16 accident deaths and 58 road injuries take place in India, said a study released this month by the Centre for Science and Environment.
The doctor’s litigation has led to a Supreme Court committee to monitor road safety. He was aiming for a National Commission for Roads and Road Safety, a nodal body that looks at all aspects, including introduction of new vehicle categories such as e-rickshaws on already crowded city roads.
For the moment, e-rickshaws represent a business opportunity.
Kapoor, whose father is an IIT-Kanpur alumnus, says their family-owned company, Saera Electric Auto Pvt Ltd, a player in automotive parts, is one of the few companies to manufacture e-rickshaws in the country, sold under the ‘Mayuri’ brand, and manufactured in Gurgaon.
Of a Rs 100-crore (Rs 1-billion) turnover, around Rs 3 crore comes from the sale of e-rickshaws whenever sales hit a peak.
At least one other Indian brand, Thukral, is made in India. Its owner said he was busy and declined to be interviewed.
Kapoor expects sales numbers to go up, now that a stable policy is in place.
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Does Gadkari benefit directly?
The e-rickshaw market
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Photograph, courtesy: Business Standard
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