India, April 3 -- While the state cabinet green-lit the e-bike taxi policy on Tuesday, following recommendations by a committee headed by retired IAS officer Ramanath Jha, it has now come to light that the committee while chalking out the fine print of the policy had disapproved the inclusion of the new mode of transport in Mumbai and Pune, given the density of traffic in the two cities. The transport department however overruled the recommendation and included both the congested cities in the policy.

According to the economic survey of Maharashtra 2024-25, Mumbai and its suburbs have 2.98 million two wheelers with the density of 1578 two wheelers per kilometer, and 260,000 auto rickshaws. Additionally, Mumbai has almost 8% of the Mahara...