Garbage collection takes a hit as 80 e-rickshaws go missing in Ludhiana city

Of 350 e-rickshaws purchased by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation at a cost of Rs 9.36 crore in 2023 for door-to-door garbage collection, 80 have gone missing. Despite installing GPS for an additional Rs 10 lakh, the MC is unaware as to who is operating these e-rickshaws or where are

they stationed.

The first shortcoming in this project, which was launched under the 15th Finance Commission, was that civic body failed to set up charging points. Thus, sanitation workers used to take these e-rickshaws home for charging.

These e-rickshaws were purchased with an aim of garbage segregation and had two compartments — dry and wet waste. The sanitation workers said wet compartment gets heavy and vehicle loses balance, especially on uneven roads. This further hampers segregation of garbage.

During review meeting of the development works by the Vidhan Sabha Committee on local bodies last month, it came forward that out of 350 e-rickshaws, 80 were missing and the rest were stationed at the MC’s central workshop.

The officials were asked to present a detailed record of all e-rickshaws by March 25, which has not been compiled yet.The responsibility for missing e-rickshaws had been pinned on several sanitary inspectors, who had been instructed to locate the missing e-rickshaws or face departmental action.

When asked about the report, which was supposed to be submitted by March 25, XEN JP Singh said he had sought detailed information from all zones and would compile the report after receiving details. As of now, 80 e-rickshaws are still untraceable, he said.

Mayor Inderjit Kaur said, “The allotment of missing e-rickshaws was made in the name of sanitary inspectors. In case officials fail to find or provide information about missing vehicles, the MC will initiate proceedings to recover loss from them.”