Fix autorickshaw stand spots soon, drivers’ union tells Gurugram admin

Gurugram: With the Gurugram district administration trying to ensure that all autorickshaws are installed with fare meters, the autorickshaw union has demanded that auto stands be earmarked for them across the city, said officials on Saturday

Gurugram: With the Gurugram district administration trying to ensure that all autorickshaws are installed with fare meters, the autorickshaw union has demanded that auto stands be earmarked for them across the city, said officials on Saturday.

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Haryana Autorickshaw Drivers’ Union general secretary Yogesh Sharma said that in 2016, they had raised the issue before the then deputy commissioner and commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram.

“They had agreed for a survey and a private agency was hired, which had earmarked 54 locations for autorickshaw stands in Gurugram. We had also paid the firm’s survey fees. However, no action has been taken yet to create auto stands in the city with basic amenities such as drinking water and toilets for drivers,” Sharma said.

Sharma said that a memorandum was submitted to the tehsildar on Thursday, asking him to look into the matter. “Drivers are forced to park autorickshaws on roads and traffic police take action against us,” he said.

Sharma said that they also met Ravinder Yadav, secretary of the regional transport authority on Friday, for speeding up installations of fare meters and increasing existing fares.

“Yadav had asked us to submit a letter with our demands and he will be forwarding to the state government,” Sharma said. He added that a team led by sub-inspector Sandeep Kumar started meeting drivers on Friday and urged them to install fare meters at the earliest.

“We have already placed our demand for increasing the existing fare rates before deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav. However, we don’t know yet if the government has agreed to our demand or not. We will try to meet the deputy commissioner and RTA secretary on Monday again and brief them about our long-pending issues,” Sharma added.

Meanwhile, RTA secretary Yadav said that he has asked the union to submit a copy of their demand to increase fares. “Besides, I have directed officials to meet autorickshaw drivers personally,” he said.

Yadav said MCG will take the final call on earmarking auto stands across the city. MCG officials could not be reached immediately for a comment.

The deputy commissioner has fixed June 30 as the deadline for installing meters after which the district administration will start imposing fines on drivers.