KOHALPUR, Sept 14: After e-rickshaw drivers in Nepalgunj failed to register their vehicles at the concerned department, the traffic police swung into action and took more than 500 such e-rickshaws under control.
According to the rules of Transportation Management Office, e-rickshaws should be legally registered and have black number plates. Head of the District Traffic Police Office, Hem Bahadur Thapa, said the e-rickshaw drivers turned a deaf ear to the matter despite the office’s repeated appeals to register the vehicles at the transportation office.
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“We had already seized several e-rickshaws before this. But the drivers’ reluctance has put the passengers’ lives at risk. It is against the law to ferry passengers in an unregistered vehicle,” said Hem Bahadur.
“We released the e-rickshaws on the very day and gave the drivers a week to replace their red number plates with black ones. We have also directed them to register their e-rickshaws in their respective wards,” added Hem Bahadur.
The drivers will be fined with Rs 500 if they don’t get legal registration and black number plates after a week. “Hundreds of e-rickshaws are currently operational in Nepalgunj. But the government has not imposed proper rules for their operation,” said Basanta Malla, president of Nepal Transportation Trading Committee.
He added, “There are more e-rickshaws in the district than required. Now, it is harder to manage them because the transportation rules weren’t imposed on time.” It has been reported that there are more than 3500 e-rickshaws in Nepalgunj and Kohalpur.
