Bhopal: E-Rickshaws Switching Off Ignition On Slopes Put Commuters At Risk

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Amid the haphazard driving by the e-rickshaw drivers prevailing in the city, a new issue has come to fore: the e-rickshaw drivers turning off the ignition on slopes, owing to which their headlights and tail lamp stop illuminating.

Commuters, especially two-wheelers, often fail to notice the e-rickshaws and end up bumping into them. A total of 15 such accidents have been reported in the city in the past ten days.

Following the incidents, arguments break out between the commuters and the e-rickshaw drivers, resulting in traffic snarls. To add to the woes is the fact that almost 42% of the e-rickshaws are not registered with the Regional Transport office (RTO).

Areas such as DIG bungalow, Karond square, Sindhi colony, Gandhi Nagar square, Nadra Bus stand and Bhopal junction railway station have been reeling under the issue. When Free Press spoke to e-rickshaw drivers about the practice being exercised by them, they said they sometimes turn off the ignition to save the battery of the vehicle. The practice becomes dangerous as the said areas are also devoid of adequate street lights.

The other underlying issues include minors driving e-rickshaws, drivers stopping vehicles in the middle of the road and some of them racing against each other on the streets. Moreover, there is no route plan in place for the e-rickshaws to operate, which gives tacit approval to its drivers to manoeuvre their vehicle in every possible corner of the city.

Efforts were made to contact the RTO officer of Bhopal, Sanjay Tiwari, who was neither found at the office, nor responded to the phone call made to him by Free Press.