Pradip Sarmah: Reinventing the Rickshaw to Drive Social Impact

[P.J.]

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Pradip Sarmah: Reinventing the Rickshaw to Drive Social Impact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksAixZvM1oA

In 2006, The Lemelson Foundation (lemelson.org) and Ashoka (ashoka.org) launched a partnership to advance invention for social good. Together, we identified and invested in over one hundred leading invention entrepreneurs from developing countries.

Pradip Sarmah is one of these outstanding individuals. His work to inspire inventive engineering and innovative business models is empowering service providers like rickshaw drivers to enhance their livelihoods. Here is his story.

 

[prasad1]

Beautiful Post.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[krish44]

In delhi a better solution has emerged. Battery operated rickshaws costing about 80K have flooded the town .they run on share mode ,,costing 5 rs for 3to 4 kilometres travel

. no licenses ,registration etc are insisted upon , they have totally replaced the autos and normal cycle rickshaws for short distance travel . yet bank credit is not made

available to them .will happen also.

recently courts have tried to put some order into their operations.

 

[prasad1]

Under the city's Motor Vehicle Act, an electric vehicle with a 250W battery or less which cannot exceed speeds of 25 km/h are exempt from normal traffic laws - meaning traffic police are powerless to take action against e-rickshaws.


This lack of regulation, which has further clogged Delhi’s already notoriously chocked roads, prompted the High Court to order the government to address the loophole.


"Our hands are tied," says Anil Shukla, assistant commissioner of Delhi’s traffic police.


He says his officers are legally unable to fine e-rickshaw drivers for flouting traffic rules - even for erratic or dangerous driving.


"It’s not a fossil-fuel consuming vehicle. So it doesn’t fall under the classic category of ‘vehicle’…so it’s a little legal tangle that is stopping us," Shukla says.


Nonetheless, he says the Delhi government is looking at a recently published study indicating that many e-rickshaws have been upgraded.


“Instead of the normal 250W, the study has found that some of these are running with upwards of 800W to 1,000W batteries, and some even with 1,400W,” Shukla says.


As a result, some e-rickshaw drivers have been seen clocking up speeds of up to 60 km/h - which Shukla says would give them the status of a vehicle and put them under his officers’ authority.

 

[krish44]

Prasadji

politicians and bureaucrats will find a solution

they are missing their hafthas as neither policemen nor politicians can get their cuts as they are not registered vehicles . RTO offices are dens of corruption

delhi policemen are not exactly poor friendly

so many car accidents take place in delhi . but only e rickshaws are targetted .

it is a mode of transport of the domestic workers to go from slum to urban households for work and lower middle class for the last mile journey from home to metro

stations .

it is true that some e rickshaws have batteries of higher capacities . but this issue can get easily sorted out .

with election around the corner , the present govt will definitely resolve the mess as these are vote banks of AAP

kejriwal will definitely move in to cater to this vote bank

many e rickshaws are back on the roads operating illegally

all poor have to go to work for a living .

they are not taking it for their personal pleasure

 

[P.J.]

thanks Prasadji