BARGARH: The district administration’s recent move to launch e-rickshaws to ferry patients from the district headquarters hospital (DHH) may be a welcome move but what’s drawing praise from various quarters is the fact that a group of Women SHG members is entrusted to run the service.
Official sources said, Rs 15 lakh was sanctioned from district mineral foundation (DMF) to procure the e-rickshaws and a group of 10 women were selected from an SHG. They were subsequently given driving training by Rural Self Emplmeoynt Training Institutes and engaged in the station. On an average, each women driver is collecting a fare of Rs 300-400 from each rickshaw.
A woman driver, Brundabati Majhi said, “ Some members of our SHG and I were selected by the Collector and given training for a month to drive the rickshaws. It has given us an avenue to become self-reliant and we believe our services will also be helpful to the patients.”
Locals have welcomed the move. “These women drivers were facing resistance from auto rickshaw owners as they are charging low fares but due to prompt intervention of the district administration, they are able to run the service smoothly,” said Ganesh Mallick, a resident.
In January 2020, Bargarh DHH was shifted to its new building in Tukurla area on the outskirts. Ever since, local patients have had a hard time commuting as the new hospital was at least 7 km from the town.
Apart from patients, other passengers and students of colleges on the route are also using the service and Bargarh Municipality Council has also fixed a fare of Rs 10 for patients and Rs 15 for the students and all other passengers.
Executive officer of Bargarh Municipality Narayan Dansena said the idea of started e-rickshaw was proposed by the Collector during a DMF meeting. While she proposed to start 10 e-rickshaws, it was agreed that five e-rickshaws will be started in the first phase. Subsequently, the Collector suggested to engage Women SHG to run the services.
Two charging stations have been set up so that the service providers do not face any inconvenience. Plans are afoot to start 10 more e-rickshaws on different routes in near future.