The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) will soon deploy e-autorickshaws on the city roads to collect garbage, a move that is part of a wider government initiative to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
According to officials from the GVMC, sanitation workers will first gather waste from households and dump it at specified areas from where the e-autorickshaws will collect the waste and take it to the compactors.
Cheaper to run
The e-autorickshaws are expected to significantly save on fuel costs.
The vehicles will be designed in a way that they can collect waste from carts and efficiently unload them into compactors.
An official from the GVMC’s Smart City wing said, “While the operating cost of a diesel vehicle is Rs 3 per kilometre, the electric vehicles are far cheaper to run at 50 paise per km. It shows how the civic body can save heavily over the years.”
The Smart City wing has planned to procure 60 e-autorickshaws in the initial stage as a pilot project. After gauging the efficiency of the vehicles, more vehicles are expected to be procured.
“Tenders for the e-autorickshaw project will be finalised in the first or second week of February. Once tenders are finalised, it would take at least three months for the vehicles to hit the roads,” said GVMC’s Executive Engineer (Smart City) Sudhakar.
According to Mr. Sudhakar, the vehicles need to be designed specifically keeping in view the hilly areas in the city, which will take close to three months’ time.
GPS tracking
The e-autorickshaws are likely to have GPS trackers built in, to ensure that the vehicles are functioning properly. The GPS system helps in monitoring the location of the vehicle on a real-time basis.
“If equipped with GPS trackers, we can monitor the movement of the vehicles, waiting time, travelling route, disposal and pick-up points from the Command Control Centre,” an official said.