Tum-tum makes a noiseless exit

MUMBAI: Arnab Mukherjee’s much-adored ‘tum-tum’ is out. This noiseless, smoke-free electric battery-operated threewheeler had been the former research associate’s preferred vehicle within the sylvan campus of IIT Powai for a year.
After a year of successful tumtumming, the "tram-on-theroads’’ has been taken off its beat, leaving its 3,000 users high and dry and mourning.The eight-seater was impounded by the enforcement wing of the Road Transport Authority on December 30 on the ground that it was not registered.
Officially named Vikram EV, the zero-pollution carrier ferried over 3,000 people every day within the hallowed portals of IIT Powai. For Rs 2, an IITian or an outsider could travel from any place to any place on the tum-tum’s 4.2 km circuitous route. "It was a great boon to students in particular as their two-wheelers are banned on the campus,’’ says Major (retd) Rajesh Dhankar, security officer, IIT.
Vikram’s operating cost was 60 paise per km and it could run for 90 to 100 km at a go, says Paul Lobo, representative of Scooters India Ltd., the manufacturer of Vikram. The vehicle has no engine, gear box and doesn’t need a silencer. It comes with its two sets of batteries and is charged in the afternoon and night.
A huge hit on the roads of Delhi, Jaipur, Coimbatore and Agra, Vikram ran only in IIT Mumbai. Six of these units plied on the campus, picking up and dropping people at every turn and corner, at a maximum speed of 45 kmph.
Says a regular user, Manoj Kumar, "I used it to come from the main gate to the energy systems department where I work. It was very good for residents and students.’’ The three- wheeler has now been replaced by noisy and noxious autorickshaws, which are rumoured to have weighed heavily in the exit of the environment-friendly alternative.
A mini-bus is already doing the rounds to make up for Vikram’s loss, but has not been able to scratch its popularity. Users say it is infrequent and cannot compensate for the good old tum-tum.
Anand Nair, a student of the Industrial Design Centre, used the tum-tum to commute from his hostel to his department. "Some might call it slow, but it was a great convenience. It was frequent —one didn’t have to wait for more than 10 minutes to hitch a ride, one could stop it anywhere, it was smokefree and it was cheap,’’ says Nair, who now walks the distance.
Given their overweening popularity, a via media to get the environmentfriendly vehicle back into the green environs of the IIT is being worked out.
Officials of the Road Transport Authority told TNN that the vehicles had been running without a permit or registration but the owner can still salvage the situation by applying for registration.
"IIT Powai can buy the vehicle or Scooters India can apply for registration. We are willing to register it as a contract carriage vehicle if it complies with all the legal provisions,’’ said an official on condition of anonymity.