The narrow and chock-a-block city streets are all set to face fresh loads of thousands of e-rickshaws with Parliament approving an amendment to the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, for inclusion of the three-wheelers.

Though e-rickshaws, popularly known as ' musafirs' and ' hawai jahaj' have become a common sight on the roads they were still to get a legal entity, which has been achieved with an amendment in the central law.

The Centre has included the definition of e-rickshaw in the Act through an amendment passed in this regard in Lok Sabha on Monday. This has now paved the way for issuing commercial driver licence for the same.

State transport department officials have also claimed that issuance of licence for e-rickshaws would start notification of separate guidelines formed by the state government. 'We are in the process of finalising the guidelines for operation of e-rickshaws in the state and it would be soon be tabled before the cabinet for final approval. The issuance of licence for e-rickshaws would start thereafter,' said a senior official at transport department.

In August, the ministry of road transport and highways had issued an advisory to the chief secretaries of all states and Union territories to formulate guidelines to regulate electric motor-propelled three-wheeled vehicles or e-rickshaws.

The new legal base for operation of e-rickshaws might provide some additional option of public transport for commuters but the traffic congestion scenario would witness additional pressure as well. 'The vehicular traffic in Patna has grown by 67 fold in the last two decades - from 4,384 in 1981 to 2,89,844 in 2001. Also, the average width of the roads in the city at present is 5.5m, which is further reduced to up to 50 per cent of the entire width of the road due to rampant encroachment. Moreover, the autorickshaws and tri-cycle-rickshaws are mostly found to be the cause of snarls. Thus, plying of the new e-rickshaws would further increase the vehicular pressure on the streets,' said a transport expert.

E-rickshaws or electric rickshaws, also known as Tom Tom or Tuk Tuk, have been widely accepted as an alternative for petrol or CNG-run three-wheelers.

The bill passed by the Lower House on Monday has amended Section 7(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, and added the definition of e-rickshaw and e-cart in the act.

According to the amendment, an e-rickshaw is 'a special battery-operated vehicle having three wheels and intended to provide last mile connectivity.'

With a number of such vehicles running in different parts of India, Delhi High Court on July 31 had banned plying of these vehicles on the roads of the national capital stating that they were a hazard to citizens and traffic.

In October, however, the Union ministry of roads, transport and highways made the amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (1989) to accommodate e-rickshaws.