Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, July, 19
The workers of DOGRA FRONT & SHIV SENA under the leadership of president Mr ASHOK GUPTA took out a protest rally in jammu city against the looting of Amarnath yatries by the E Rikshaw drivers. Party president stated that RTO has flexed up the rates during the period of Amarnath Yatra at Rs 10 per km for the base camps and registration points but on the contrary these E Rikshaw drivers are charging Rs 300-400 for 4 km distance.
In a very recent incident a e rickshaw driver charged Rs 250 for a distance of 1 km from e passengers. In Jammu there are no designated routes which aggravate the problem. Untrained drivers, including minors, are observed driving these e-rickshaws which raises safety concerns. As a result, quite many road accidents involving e-rickshaws are being reported.
E-rickshaws are constrained with a limited maximum speed, typically ranging between 25 and 30 kilometers per hour. Hence these impede the movement of other vehicles on the road.
Many e-rickshaws are overloaded, with more passengers, exceeding the capacity. Both the front and rear seats can accommodate passengers in excess. They are also commercial carriers for goods. There is a lack of clear regulations for e-rickshaws, creating practical challenges. Although e-rickshaws are registered, they do not possess permits for specific routes in most cities like other commercial vehicles do have.
Gupta strongly criticised the traffic department for their irresponsible behaviour as they have been unable to curtail the menace of the e rickshaw drivers which are harassing the customers.
At last he said that Yatra comes once a year and yatries should go back with good memories not with looted and tarnished mindset.
The party people who were present at the time of protest were Satish, Bantu, Prem, Kalu, Raju, Ganesh, Vikram, Rampal, Vinay Abhishek, Raman, Sundar and various others were present.
