E-rickshaw drivers protest HC ban in Delhi

Some e-rickshaw drivers Wednesday staged a protest here against the Delhi High Court's ban on plying battery-operated rickshaws in the capital until the government comes up with guidelines to regulate these.

Over 300 members of the Battery Rickshaw Sangh protested the ban at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi.

The protestors said they did not have savings and taking away their only means of earning was "not fair".

"We are surviving on mere savings which may exhaust any day. We earn on a day-to-day basis and a day's earnings are spent on the same day's meal. Since the ban was ordered, we don't have any work and our families are also suffering," Deepak, an e-rickshaw driver, told IANS.

Deepak added that he was forced to spend whatever little he had saved for "difficult times".

Some protestors alleged that auto-rickshaw drivers were taking advantage of the ban and charging commuters higher fares.

However, some members agreed that they often drove their vehicles "recklessly", and sought regularisation.

"We also want that a law is made for e-rickshaws and number-plates allotted. Also, if anyone violates the rules, he should be punished," Wasim, an e-rickshaw driver, said.