No e-rickshaws on roads leading to Golden Temple

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 30

In order to regulate the traffic in the vicinity of the Golden Temple, the traffic police have ‘banned’ the movement of e-rickshaws and autos in the area.

There has been a manifold increase in the number of battery-operated rickshaws in the city. The roads around the Golden Temple become congested due to encroachments by shopkeepers and parking of e-rickshaws.

The residents of the area had complained about this many times. However, the e-rickshaw drivers manage to gain entry through a number of roads leading to the holy shrine.

“We have deputed the cops with categorical instructions not to allow these vehicles to stand or park on these roads in order to decongest them,” said Amandeep Kaur, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

She said that during the past two days, it was observed that e-rickshaws and autos gained entry to the region from the Gurdwara Ramsar side, Sultanwind Gate, Ghee Mandi Gate, Sheranwala Gate and Bharawan da Dhaba side. After the passengers were dropped, these were parked on the roads leading to the Golden Temple.

She said now only e-rickshaws carrying the disabled, elderly people and children would be allowed to enter the area.

Police officials led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and order) Parminder Singh Bhandal, along with ADCP Amandeep Kaur and ADCP Mehtab Singh, were in action in the area for the past two days. They asked the shopkeepers to clear the footpaths and not to encroach upon roads.

Jagdish Singh, a local resident, said e-rickshaws had created a nuisance, especially in the Bagh Ramanand side that led to Heritage Street.

In the absence of any policy of the district administration and the Police Department for their regulation, these vehicles have created a chaos on the roads. As a result, commuting has become a nightmare, say area residents. The number of e-rickshaws registered with the traffic police is miniscule but, their actual number is very high.

The traffic police also removed encroachments near Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh, Sultanwind Chowk, Sherawala gate Chowk, Mahan Singh Gate Chowk, Hall Gate, Sakatari Gate and Heritage Street. Wrongly parked vehicles were also removed with the help of tow-away vehicles.

Parking banned

We have deputed the cops with categorical instructions not to allow these vehicles to stand or park on these roads in order to decongest them. — Amandeep Kaur, Adcp (traffic)