The Musafirs and Hawai Jahaj plying on the streets of Patna and beyond will have to adhere to basic traffic and licensing rules from now.

After Patna witnessed the emergence of e-rickshaws, popularly known asMusafirs and Hawai Jahaj, the transport department will now ensure that drivers of the four-seater three-wheelers have a driving licence and the vehicles have owner books, registration and pollution certificates among the many other documents.

'The Centre is preparing a set of rules for the e-rickshaws in the country. The same rules will be applicable here too. Most of the regulations have been finalised and approved by the Centre. A direction would be issued to all the officials concerned and the drivers in a meeting slated for November 18,' Vijoy Prakash, the principal secretary of the transport department said on Wednesday.

The drivers of the vehicles will have to ensure that they carry a licence all the time. Things will be discussed in detail in the November 18 meeting.

Patna district transport officer (DTO) Dinesh Kumr Rai had earlier said they were not checking the battery-run public transport vehicles because they didn't get any directions from the department.

'We cannot tell the exact number of such vehicles plying in Patna at present. The company manufacturing them first has to approach the state government. It is the transport department, which gives us directions to issue permits after they approved them after checks. We have not received any kind of directions from the state government in this connection,' he had said.

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.

With a number of such vehicles running in different parts of India, the 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 ministry of roads, transport and highways made the amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rule (1989) to accommodate e-rickshaws.

It was stated that it was mandatory for the drivers to have a licence and the speed of the rickshaws shouldn't be more than 25km/hour. It was also stated that the vehicles were permissible to carry only four persons, excluding the driver, and shouldn't carry luggage weighing more than 40kg.