Committee set up to frame guidelines for e-rickshaw plying

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today appointed a committee to finalise the guidelines for plying of battery-powered rickshaws in the city.
The committee, headed by Chief Secretary D M Spolia and comprising representatives of Delhi Police, Transport Department, e-rickshaw manufacturers as well as drivers of the vehicles, has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.
The committee was appointed after Dikshit held a meeting with a delegation of e-rickshaw manufacturers and drivers.
In the meeting, Dikshit said these e-rickshaws can be used to connect different metro stations with nearby localities but underlined the need for bringing them under regulations so that no government agency, including police, harasses them.

The government had last year decided to come down hard on operators of the non-motorised vehicles which were not covered under the Delhi Motor Vehicle Act.
Dikshit assured the drivers that the e-rickshaws can continue to ply as they have been catering to the needs of people in travelling short distances.
The rickshaw manufacturers and drivers requested Dikshit to allow such rickshaws to ply on colony roads to provide connectivity between metro stations.
"The e-rickshaws should be continued as they are eco-friendly and suitable to cover the short distances," Dikshit said.