Odisha: Women SHG to operate E-rickshaw service from hospital

Bargarh: A major initiative for the patients has been taken by the district administration which will require a group of Women SHG members to run the initiative. Now, patients can easily transport in an e-rickshaws from the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). 

The idea received great acclaim and received funds for the purchase of e-rickshaws worth around Rs 15 lakh. The funds were sanctioned by the District Mineral Foundation (DMF).

At the DMF meeting, the Collector proposed starting e-rickshaws said, The executive officer of Bargarh Municipality Narayan Dansena. This was the Collector's idea to involve the Women's SHG.

Also read- UP: Man Carries Son In E-Rickshaw Due To Unavailability Of Ambulance

Due to the shifting of the hospital to the new location in Turkurla in 2020, patients have been struggling to travel 7 km from town to the hospital. Now, patients are travelling easily with the help of e-rickshaws at a fare of Rs 10 for patients and Rs 15 for other passengers.

As per TNEI sources, the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes decided to provide driving training for around 10 selected women SHG for the service. Each woman driver collects an average of Rs 300-400 per rickshaw.

"The Collector chose some members of our SHG and me for a month of rickshaw driving training. It has allowed us to become self-sufficient, and we hope our services will be beneficial to the patients as well," said Brundabati Majhi, one of the woman drivers.

Also read- Odisha To Come Up With India's First Tribal Health Observatory

To ensure that service providers are not inconvenienced, two charging stations have been installed and plans are going on to install more e-rickshaws in the near future.

At first, it was planned to launch 10 e-rickshaws in the selected location in the first phase but later it came down to 5 e-rickshaws.

When asked about the experience with the locals, they said, "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."