Interest of poor paramount: Nitin Gadkari tells AAP on e-rickshaws

NEW DELHI: Interest of the poor will be of " paramount" importance for the government while finalising new guidelines for e-rickshaws, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari today told a delegation led by AAP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"Met a delegation of AAP, explained them about the efforts taken by the government in regularizing e-rickshaws," the minister tweeted.

The minister added that he assured Kejriwal and the AAP delegation that "interest of the poor is paramount for the NDA government".

Gadkari said he has asked the AAP delegation to send in legally tenable comments on the new notification put up by the ministry.

Gadkari, also gave a copy of his book 'India Aspires' to the former Delhi CM.

The minister had said yesterday that a final notification will be issued after ten days to allow e-rickshaws which have been banned from plying on the roads here by the Delhi High Court over safety issues.

The court had on July 31 banned plying of e-rickshaws on the roads of the national capital saying 'prima facie' they are a hazard to other traffic as well as citizens.

The minister, who holds charge of the Shipping Ministry, said that the government is contemplating on skill development programmes for seafarers.

"Welfare of seafarers is of strategic importance for India's maritime interest," he added.