Delhi govt plans to put 1.5 lakh more autorickshaws on roads

Delhi government plans to add over 1.5 lakh autorickshaws to the existing fleet with an aim to improve availability of the three-wheelers in the national capital, a senior Transport department official said. The Transport department had recently moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to add around 1.5 lakh autos to the already permitted fleet of one lakh such vehicles, the official said.

Relaxing the restriction on the number of auto-rickshaws, the Supreme Court had in November 2011 allowed the transport department to give 45,000 new permits, taking the number of autos to one lakh. "The national capital is home to over 1.65 crore people and one lakh autorickshaws are very less compared to the population. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to put around 1.5 lakh more autorickshaws on Delhi's roads," said the official said. "If the number of autorickshaws increases in Delhi, autorickshaw cartel can be broken," the official said.

According to the official, studies on congestion, pollution etc will be carried out if they get permission to increase the number of autorickshaws.