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Speaking to News18 about the need for such a reform, he said bicycles have a longer shelf life than e-rickshaws, and the breakdown of these vehicles causes a lot of financial trouble for the poor who depend on them
Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari. File pic/News18
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday announced that the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) rating system will also be launched for e-rickshaws.
Speaking to News18 about the need for such a reform, he said bicycles have a longer shelf life than e-rickshaws, and the breakdown of these vehicles causes a lot of financial trouble for the poor who depend on them.
“The poor buy e-rickshaws on loan, and within two years they break down and become dysfunctional. The cycle has a life of 10 years, but these rickshaws become scrap in just two years,” he told News18.
He also assured that these ratings will make these rickshaws safer and less prone to fatal accidents.
Speaking to the media, he said a committee has been formed and it will submit its report soon on the test standards.
Gadkari said when these e-rickshaws were introduced in 2014, the welfare of the poor was kept in mind, and so the manufacturers were allowed to use the existing ISI parts to make these vehicles.
“In 2014, we introduced e-rickshaws. Its speciality was that two crore people were freed from pulling fellow humans. They were made free from social and economic torture. After this, e-carts were also introduced,” he said.
In 2023, Bharat NCAP was introduced for safety star ratings for cars in India. There will be a similar practice for e-rickshaws, the minister explained.
“We will ensure that the cost of these e-rickshaws will not increase but the quality will improve,” he added.
Gadkari added that due to low quality, many e-rickshaws stop functioning in just two years, which causes trouble for the poor who invest in them.
“With star ratings and affordable rates, even the poor will invest in good-quality rickshaws,” he said.
The quality of these modes of transportation is also important because they give huge employment opportunities for the poor.
The aim of introducing Bharat NCAP was to take a long overdue step towards reducing deaths on the streets. Cars are given star ratings based on their performance in crash tests.
Bharat NCAP was launched in October 2023 to enhance road safety for vehicle owners in India. It is for vehicles manufactured in India as well as imported ones. The higher the rating, the safer the car will be, and the number of deaths in road accidents will be fewer.
According to the ministry’s Road Accidents in India 2022 report, 4.61 lakh road accidents were reported that year, killing 1.68 lakh people and injuring 4.43 lakh.
Before that, in 2021, at least 1.53 lakh lives were lost due to road accidents in India, the highest since 2011. There were 25,431 accidents and 9,191 deaths related to cars, taxis, and vans, the report added.
