E-rickshaws are not allowed on the highway, but hundreds of them don’t just regularly ply on NH-9 but also break traffic rules, wrong-side driving being the most common violation.
Additional DCP (traffic) Veerendra Kumar said the woman, Neha Sharma (35), a resident of Sector 9, and her two children were to get down at an eatery near the Tigri roundabout in the Vijay Nagar area when the e-rickshaw was hit by a four-wheeler on the Delhi to Lal Kuan arm of the highway around 12.30 am. Neha and her 12-year-old daughter, Vaishnavi, were taken to the district hospital by passersby where the former died during treatment. Vaishnavi continues to be in critical care, the officer said. Her nine-year-old son escaped unhurt.
ACP Kotwali Ravindra Kumar Verma said a complaint was submitted by Neha’s brother against an unknown driver and the e-rickshaw driver under IPC Sections 304A (death due to negligence) and 279 (rash driving).
“The e-rickshaw driver took a shortcut and drove on the NH9 despite knowing that three-wheelers are banned on it, just to save a few minutes. We are trying to identify the e-rickshaw driver as he too fled with the vehicle after the accident. The other car is also being traced with the help of CCTV cameras,” Verma said.
Banned on NH9 since April last year, e-rickshaws have continued to find their way on the speedway through several internal roads in Noida and Ghaziabad. Cops deputed at seven such points on the highway have failed to pull the plug on the menace.
According to senior police officers, Ghaziabad has over 30,000 illegal e-rickshaws and at least 30% of them ply on NH9. Last year, a total 26,231 challans were issued to e-rickshaws for various violations. Cops say around 45% of these challans were issued on NH9 alone.
“Of the 1,371 e-rickshaws seized last year, around 50% were seized from the highway,” he said.
According to Veerendra, the duty of traffic cops on the NH9 ends at 10 pm. “So, no cops were present when the accident took place. We are making efforts to stop this nuisance,” he said.
Meanwhile, slow-moving vehicles like autos and e-rickshaws, have been prohibited from plying on a 10.3km-stretch of Hindon elevated road that connects Ghaziabad to East Delhi from Thursday.
