ghaziabad a police survey has found that nearly 80 of all erickshaws that run in the city are illegal while regional transport office rto records show only 10263 registered erickshaws a staggering 30000 of these batteryoperated vehicles many of them crudely assembled at illegal units have no quality checks or registration thriving because they offer convenient and cheap first and lastmile connectivity erickshaws have been replacing cycle rickshaws and autos to an extent as a local mode of transport with illegal erickshaw stands cropping up at corners of important junctions and other key roads they have also become a traffic nuisance on busy stretches like loni to delhi border old bus stand to vijay nagar and kavi nagar to shastri nagar to name a few the illegally assembled vehicles also pose serious health risks to those hitching a ride due to factors like the absence of shock absorbers that jar your bones at a bumper or pothole for example police commissioner ajay mishra told toi these illegal erickshaws do not have any documents so traffic cops cannot even issue challans the drivers do not have a licence or a permit the only way to control this nuisance is to seize these erickshaws but seizing isnt necessarily a way of convincing owners to register the vehicles ramanand kushwaha adcp traffic said in december 2022 traffic cops seized more than 500 erickshaws but around 200 owners never came to release them in such cases we place the erickshaws at the nearest police outpost or station we dont have the space to seize all 30000 illegal erickshaws he saiderickshaw drivers need to take a licence from the rto and register their vehicles but when erickshaws were introduced in ghaziabad in 2012 anyone could drive them without permits unlike autorickshaws or buses only in 2015 did the government authorise the rto to register erickshaws but many drivers remain unaware of the rule in 2016 prime minister narendra modi launched the stand up india scheme and rolled out appbased erickshaws in noida at that time the road transport and highways ministry also said erickshaws and ecarts do not need permits to ply on roads its notification read that sub section 66 of the motor vehicles act 1988 did not apply to ecarts and erickshaws used for carrying goods or passengers with personal luggage kd singh from arto enforcement said we need to understand the root of the problem when erickshaws were introduced in ghaziabad there were no proper guidelines from the government only the gmc was somewhat controlling their movement by giving them unique numbers and recording the drivers names when the rto was authorised to register the erickshaws very few drivers came forward which is why they do not have the required documents meanwhile only 84 dealers registered themselves with the rto to sell erickshaws and their business went down as people started illegal erickshaw manufacturing factoriesnow people make erickshaws using poor quality material and sell them for half the actual price they buy