False start for Maya’s green gifts

The rickshaws were distributed under Urban Self Employment Programme of Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana,a Centrally-sponsored programme. While the cost of the rickshaw is Rs 1 lakh,the government gave subsidy of 25 per cent. The beneficiary had to give Rs 5,500 for the rickshaw as a one-time money and the remaining was loaned to them by the Union Bank of India and had to be paid in monthly installments.

One of the technical problems faced by the beneficiaries is that the rickshaw’s solar panel which was supposed to charge the battery,is not working at is optimum level,and hence the mileage is low.

“We were told that the battery of the rickshaw will be charged by the solar panel and we will be able to run the rickshaw all day. Despite charging the battery for over 15 hours,I am unable to run the rickshaw for over 45 kilometres. I have to paddle it back home to charge the battery by electricity,” said 50-year-old Fakira Saini. Another beneficiary Baidyanath said that he returned the rickshaw as the battery had to be charged by electricity which had become a costly affair for me. He now sells home made candies.

Another problem faced by them was that the seat of the rickshaw is not spacious enough for two persons to sit comfortably. “Even if the customers have a child with them,they can’t make the child sit on their laps because the space between their seat and the driver’s seat is narrow,” said Kallimuddin,who is finding difficult to continue with driving the rickshaw. This is not the first time that rickshaws distributed on Mayawati’s birthday have run into rough weather.

Last year,54 battery-powered rickshaws rickshaws which too have stopped functioning. Despite this,this year State Urban Development Agency insisted on distributing the solar-powered rickshaws,which too have been manufactured by the same company — Hindustan Steel Industries. Officials,however,maintained that they have not received any complaints about technical snags in the solar-powered rickshaws.

“I am not aware that any one has returned the rickshaw. I will look into the matter,” said Satish Chandra Verma,Project Officer,DUDA,Lucknow.