E‑Rickshaw Misrouting Plagues Ghaziabad Arterial, Creating Daily Congestion

The thoroughfare extending from the historic Ghaziabad Railway Station to the interchange at Modinagar, long reputed for its orderly flow, has in recent weeks become the scene of a bewildering and daily congestion caused principally by electric rickshaws electing to traverse the carriageway on the opposite side of the prescribed lane.

According to the Ghaziabad Traffic Police, the number of e‑rickshaws observed travelling against the official direction has risen from a modest twenty‑four in early March to an alarming one‑hundred and twelve by the third week of May, a surge that municipal officials attribute to inadequate signage, lingering ambiguities in the 2024 Urban Mobility Ordinance, and the proliferation of informal operators seeking expedient shortcuts to lucrative passenger fares.

The municipal corporation, through its Department of Transport, issued a circular on 12 May urging all licensed e‑rickshaw owners to adhere strictly to the designated right‑hand lane, yet the circular was dispatched without accompanying physical barriers, illumination, or the deployment of traffic wardens, thereby rendering the admonition largely symbolic and ineffective in the face of entrenched non‑compliance.

Ordinary commuters, ranging from schoolchildren to market traders, have reported average journey extensions of fifteen to thirty minutes during peak hours, a delay that translates into lost productivity estimated at several crore rupees per week, while local businesses situated along the affected stretch have decried diminished patronage and increased risk of accidents, a circumstance that underscores the tangible socioeconomic cost of administrative inertia.

Should the municipal corporation, having previously assured the public of rigorous enforcement of the Traffic Rules (Amendment) Act 2022, now be held legally accountable for the apparent neglect that permits e‑rickshaws to defy the prescribed direction, thereby endangering commuters and eroding public trust? Might the failure to install imperative lane‑markings and to allocate sufficient traffic officers constitute a breach of the duty of care owed by municipal authorities to the residents of Ghaziabad under established principles of administrative liability? Could the continued reliance on voluntary compliance, rather than the implementation of enforceable penalties delineated in the 2023 Public Transport Regulation, be deemed a dereliction that invites judicial review and necessitates remedial legislative action? And finally, does the evident disparity between the statutory provisions governing vehicular movement and the pragmatic reality of on‑ground enforcement reveal a systemic flaw that warrants an independent inquiry into the efficacy of municipal oversight mechanisms?

In light of the documented escalation of contraventions, what legal recourse remain available to aggrieved citizens who suffer repeated delays and heightened safety risks, and should a class‑action lawsuit be contemplated to compel the municipal corporation to fulfil its statutory obligations concerning road safety infrastructure? Is there a compelling argument for the state government to invoke emergency powers under the Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Act 2025 to suspend operating licences of non‑compliant e‑rickshaw operators until corrective measures, such as the erection of physical barriers and the introduction of real‑time monitoring, are demonstrably instituted? Furthermore, might the persistence of this disorderly conduct serve as a catalyst for revisiting the allocation of urban development funds, thereby ensuring that a portion of the budget is earmarked for the systematic evaluation and upgrading of traffic‑management systems within rapidly expanding peri‑urban locales? Lastly, how shall the principle of proportionality be applied when assessing whether the municipal response—characterised by delayed enforcement and insufficient public communication—adequately balances the rights of private operators against the collective right of the populace to safe and efficient mobility?

Published: May 25, 2026

Published: May 25, 2026