Before the pandemic, e rickshaws drivers could earn as much as INR 800 per day and the cost of charging the vehicle was much lower than conventional fuel powered vehicles at INR 150 per day. After the pandemic, however, incomes have halved and workers struggle to repay the loans and bear the maintenance costs. As e rickshaws can cover a much smaller radius of upto 15 km, with a maximum of 4 passengers at a time, workers have to carry on working for 8 to 10 hours to make their daily wage of around INR 500 today. In the first lockdown between March-May 2020 workers could not leave their homes and their vehicle batteries were damaged as a result. In the second Lockdown (April to June 2021) they were allowed to take restricted number of passengers and conduct essential services like ferrying goods. Most workers made at least INR 150 to INR 200 for half a day shift during this time, and the Delhi government provided a one time cash relief of INR 5000 along with food to help those workers who could produce valid license and vehicle registration documents.

The real difficulty started after lockdown was lifted as welfare supplies were quickly replaced with penalties in the form of heavy challans  of INR 20000 imposed at metro stations parking stands and for minor traffic offences. The Delhi High Court’s judgement in 2016 to seize all unregistered e rickshaws, followed by a further judgement in 2020 to centralise registration by a lottery system, indicates that the government is slowly trying to clamp down on the sector which grew rather organically. With an estimated, 2 lakh rickshaws in Delhi with only around 19000 registered, the government’s position is quite at odds with NGO and social business efforts to provide a green poor man’s vehicle.

Mahendra’s day starts early at 0600 am when he drives his e rickshaw from Burari village, a rural area on the outskirts of Delhi to VishwaVidyalay in North Delhi. His journey is an arduous one, as over the course he encounters at least 4 police check posts who expect a payment from him. Arriving at VishwaVidyalay metro station is not easy, too, as groups of syndicates backed by traffic police tightly control the e-rickshaw stand and expect a payment of INR 500 just to park here. Mahendra, however, is a graduate from Bihar and says that when he moved to Delhi 30 years ago he was forced to take on daily waged work as he needed a bribe of INR 20,000 to get a government job. The e rickshaw, which he now owns- after paying around 1.3 lakh through a monthly loan of INR 6000 over 2 years- is a good alternative. He is one of the lucky ones, as he has paid off his loan, but his friends are struggling to make ends meet with a monthly income of INR 13,000 on average. Mahendra’s son has an IT Diploma but the pandemic has dimmed his chances of a public sector job and he reluctantly depends on his dad for financial help. For those with children at school, the situation is worse as they have to pay INR 2000 per month for each child for private schooling.

In the first lockdown, Mahendra stayed at home and did not go to his native Bihar as he had to take care of his vehicle. Also, as an educated person he knew that travelling would spread the risk further. In the second lockdown he would go to the Mazdoor Chowk where he could get a daily waged job on an as and when basis, earning around INR 200 per day. Mahendra, says, that while government was lenient with us during the second lockdown the Ram Raj (golden rule) quickly withdrew as a strict system of challans was enforced. “The traffic police threaten to fine us with a challan of INR 20,000 if we don’t bribe then with INR 500”, he says. Now, where do I get this money from when I am struggling to earn a minimum daily wage with schools and offices closed. Yet, Mahendra prefers to work in Vishwavidyalay as people here are respectable professionals and do not harass him. In other places, passengers urge him to go into red sones, but he politely drops them ahead of the restricted area or just says “no”.

Typically, an e rickshaw can run for no longer than 12 hours, as the battery charge expires. Mahendra goes home by 8pm, and charges his rickshaw over night. In Delhi, electricity up to 200 units is not charged and between 200 to 400 units incurs 50% charge, which leaves him with a bill of around INR 1500 per month. If Mahendra’s rickshaw has to be recharged in the city then he would have to go to an informal supplier who charges his rickshaw from an overhead line or he would have to go to one of the charging stations.

As Mahendra lives in an urban village his wife works on the fields, and the village community have helped him build a small home in gratitude for the community work he has done there. He hopes that the government would help out rickshaw drivers with young families as they are struggling and want the corruption of police to end.