E-rickshaws to be used for a novel idea in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam has been striving hard to bag the top rank in the Swachh Survekshan rankings. While the city stood third in 2017, the rank slumped in the previous year. However, the officials seemed to be in revamped spirits to achieve better results in 2019. In its effort for the same, GVMC has been adopting different measures to maintain Visakhapatnam spic and span.

Reportedly, GVMC is planning to launch a solid waste management project to collect solid waste from door to door at Area Based Developed (ABD) areas under the smart city mission.

E-rickshaws are expected to be used to collect the waste, as per the guidelines of solid waste management. The e-rickshaws will help in collecting waste from the households in Visakhapatnam in an eco-friendly way, GVMC Commissioner M Hari Narayanan opined.

It has also been reported that tenders will be called for e-rickshaws with an estimated cost of Rs 8 crores. Informedly, each e-rickshaw would be able to carry one ton of solid waste. Also, it would be powered by a 1000 watts motor with three battery capacity of 120 Ah each and a voltage of 48 volts.

After being charged for about seven hours, the e-rickshaws can travel for 70 km. The officials also plan to set up four electric charging stations for the purpose.

Flagged off on 4 January this year, Swachh Survekshan 2019 is being carried out across India. The survey, which will last until month end, is being carried out in 4300 cities across the country. While the last year’s survey allocated a total of 4000 marks as the cumulative score, the latest survey will allocate 5000 marks for the same.