Agartala:Tripura government has ordered temporary closure of all the outlets of E-rickshaw and battery operated rickshaw in the state soon after notification of amended Motor Vehicles Act to regulate them across the country.
Transport Minister Manik Dey said here o Friday that the state government had framed rules for the first time in the country titled ‘Tripura Battery Operated Rickshaws Rules 2014’ to regulate the movement of battery-operated rickshaws in urban areas of the state replicating the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
However, since the amended provisions of the M V Act brought all e-rickshaws under the ambit of the Act, the Tripura government has to follow it by reviewing the existing rules passed by the state assembly early this year.
“Our existing rules have covered substantial part of the amended M V Act and since registration, driving license and insurance are already there for e-rickshaws of Tripura. We now only need to regulate the sale and registered them in state transport authority like other vehicles,” Mr Dey said.
He also stated that a good number of e-rickshaw outlets were opened across the state with simple trade license and a large number of such vehicles have been already sold in Tripura for the past one year but after amendment of M V Act, the outlets were closed and these will be opened only after due formalities.
“The sellers of e-rickshaw have to produce their dealership regis-tration from the reco-gnised manufacturers along with model testing certificate from the approved agencies and have to ensure the verification of the particular model speci-fication to transport department like other vehicles before opening the outlets,” Mr Dey stated.
He said the state government has been encouraging the battery operated rickshaws in the urban areas considering it as eco-friendly mode of transportation and as a result, Tripura pro-actively framed the rule to regulate them for the first time in the country. (UNI)
