The first day of city bus services in Ranchi’s Mahatma Gandhi Road on Sunday was marred by an attack on a bus which caused injuries to two passengers, a bus driver and a conductor. An infuriated e-rickshaw driver reportedly pelted stones at a city bus near Overbridge and fled, police said.
The bus service was started on MG Road after the District Administration decided to ban the entry of e-rickshaws in the stretch. E-rickshaw drivers have been up in arms against the District Administration since the decision and are running massive campaigns against the alleged injustice towards them.
Soon after the attack, the bus drivers parked their buses near Albert Ekka Chowk and refused to ply on the road until they are assured security. However, they were soon pacified to return to duty. “The person pelted stones on a bus and fled. It affected the service for a little while. I would like to make it clear that any person found guilty of disrupting the bus services will not be spared,” said Ranchi’s Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Ajit Peter Dungdung.
Traffic police in the State capital have decided to slap a fine of Rs.10,000 on e-rickshaw drivers if they are found plying their battery-charged vehicles in between the stretch from Albert Ekka Chowk to Sujata Chowk Sunday onwards. As per the Motor Vehicles Act, the offenders may also get imprisonment of up to six months.
The decision of prohibiting entry of e-rickshaws on MG Road was taken in a meeting between Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Traffic Police on Saturday. It, however, caused uproar by e-rickshaw drivers, who threatened to go on a protest from Sunday. A police official said that the police were expecting such incidents while imposing the ban.
RMC advocates that only 64 e-rickshaws have permit to ply on Mahatma Gandhi Road but around 600 e-rickshaws ply regularly in the stretch. On Tuesday, about 50 e-rickshaw drivers also staged a protest outside the RMC office against the decision of the District Administration to impose a ban on e-rickshaws in the said stretch. Some of them alleged that the Government had encouraged them to buy e-rickshaws and now the Administration is taking away their only means of livelihood.
