e-rickshaws gather dust as TS lacks registration policy

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation’s (TSTDC) proposed plan to operate electric vehicles (e-rickshaws) around Charminar and Salarjung Museum is still a non-starter as the State government has no policy of registering the electric vehicles.

The tourism officials are hopeful that the government would take a decision soon so that the e-vehicles could be operated at Charminar, connecting various historical sites. The Tourism Corporation had proposed to start e-rickshaws at Charminar for the tourists visiting the city.

The three-seater colourful battery operated electric auto-rickshaws were to be made available by the Corporation connecting historical places like Salarjung Museum, Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Chowmahalla Palace and the Nizam’s Museum in parts of the Old City. Officials at the Tourism Corporation said initially 20 autos would be deployed with each e-rickshaw costing Rs 2 lakh.

The idea was to provide connectivity and easy access to the historical places to the tourists in wake of the ban on the vehicular movement at Charminar with its pedestrianisation project during this summer season. The fare was decided at Rs 200 per person including the ticket to the tourist spots. It was proposed to exempt children below 5 years from the fare and the service was to start from the first week of May.

According to sources, the Tourism Corporation has been waiting for the registration of these vehicles. Sources also said that presently there was no policy with the State government to register the electric vehicles. The transport department is yet to handover the vehicles to the Corporation.

Tourism Corporation MD B Manohar said that they were waiting for permission from the transport department. “We have written to the Transport Secretary and are expecting that the department would soon give us permission. Once we get permission, we will run hop on hop off services at Charminar,” said Manohar.