PMC offers Rs 25K aid for e-rickshaw purchase; drivers’ unions raise feasibility concerns

If the owner is a resident of Pune city, and the electric autorickshaw is a passenger rickshaw, then the person can apply for the benefit through https://dbt.pmc.gov.in. The financial assistance will be directly deposited in the account of the owner.

“The online registration has started and the owners should come forward to avail the benefit of the scheme while helping to reduce air pollution in the city,” said Madhav Jagtap, Deputy Municipal Commissioner.

The applicant has to fill in all the details and submit copies of RTO registration, licence, badge, Aadhaar card, Pan card, and bank account details. The hard copy should also be submitted to the civic body office at the time of verification.

However, Rickshaw Panchayat, the largest autorickshaw union, while welcoming the PMC initiative, has raised concerns regarding its feasibility. “There were two meetings held on electric rickshaw promotion in the city. The PMC is only focusing on providing financial assistance and not working on resolving the basic issues being faced on the ground,” said Nitin Pawa, convenor of Rickshaw Panchayat.

The e-rickshaws are apparently more expensive than the CNG version and hence a financial assistance of Rs 25,000 will not encourage the purchase of new electric autorickshaws, he said.

He urged the PMC to help those purchasing e-rickshaws to avail of financial assistance from the state and union governments. “Earlier, the PMC scheme was to provide funds for the conversion from petrol to CNG fuel autorickshaw while now the conversion is not possible and a new autorickshaw has to be purchased as they are based on new technology,” Pawar said.

The electric autorickshaw needs charging stations across the city to recharge batteries on a regular basis, he said. “The PMC should open charging stations at rickshaw stands and allow them to be operated by unions to ensure uninterrupted services. Otherwise, where will the drivers charge the batteries of their vehicles? Most of the autorickshaw service providers are from poor families and don’t have their own parking spaces. So they can’t have their own charging stations,” Pawar said.

The union pointed out that there is no system for the maintenance and repair of electric autorickshaws. If there is any problem then the vehicle is taken by the company for a check-up, leaving the owner to wait for its delivery which affects his income, Pawar said.

The civic body has been promoting the use of environment-friendly autorickshaws since 2012. The drivers were given an aid of Rs 12,000 to convert their petrol and diesel autorickshaws into CNG. “The PMC provided financial assistance to around 16,000 old autorickshaws running on petrol and diesel that were converted to CNG. The scheme was discontinued in 2020 as it was to encourage CNG autorickshaws but now only CNG or electric run auto rickshaw are allowed to ply,” said Dighe.