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RTO, traffic police launch drive against unruly autos in Kurla, LTT
On Wednesday, the authorities conducted this drive at Kurla, and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) where drivers were caught for various offences such as fare refusal, seating more people than permitted and for operating vehicles not in road worthy condition.
Mumbai: The Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and the Mumbai Traffic Police have started a drive against erring autorickshaw drivers in the eastern and central suburbs.
On Wednesday, the authorities conducted this drive at Kurla, and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) where drivers were caught for various offences such as fare refusal, seating more people than permitted and for operating vehicles not in road worthy condition.
When autorickshaw drivers came to know about this drive by the RTO, they fled the location.
The RTOs have taken cognisance of the consistent reportage by Hindustan Times on the issues faced by commuters because of the menace of unruly share autorickshaw/taxi drivers. For the first time, a joint drive by the RTOs and Mumbai traffic police started on Sunday (August 27).
“We have booked more than 280 cases against several auto drivers for breaching different traffic laws. We have been catching them for fare refusal, seating more people than allowed, charging excess fare etc., among others,” said Vinay Ahire, head of Wadala RTO.
The RTO officers along with the traffic police have covered areas of Kurla, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Mulund, Chembur, Vikhroli since Sunday where they visited different areas and stationed themselves to catch as many erring autorickshaw drivers as possible.
On Wednesday, the drive started at 10.15-10.30am from Kurla on the road leading to Kurla railway station.
“There is a need to segregate entry and exit points of autorickshaws outside Kurla station as they occupy the road meant for BEST buses. There is a scope for starting shared auto rickshaws from more points here,” said Shivaji Yadav, resident of Badlapur who travels to BKC for work.
According to officers, they moved from one road to the other after some time.
During the drive, the auto drivers were trying to escape from getting caught by taking a detour in the traffic. Officers caught those autorickshaws, which were physically in a poor condition, and did not have PUC and motor insurance.
“There were a couple of autorickshaws whose speedometers were missing, and the driver had kept gutkha in it. The side indicators were also missing, seats were torn, and the condition of the three-wheeler was bad,” said an RTO officer.
“When we asked for the driving license, the driver did not have the original one with him. These drivers will have to come to the RTO and pay the necessary fines and only then shall their vehicles be cleared,” said the officer.
The driver, Ramlaut, said that his driving license was confiscated by one of the traffic police chowki and he is yet to get it back. Another rickshaw driver Alauddin did not have complete papers and was not even wearing proper uniform.
“These autorickshaw drivers do not have relevant documents, have pending fines and even ferry passengers in vehicles that are rickety. What we found is that when these auto drivers get a whiff of a drive being underway, they scatter away from the location,” said an officer from the RTO who was part of the drive on Wednesday.
As the day progressed, the roads outside Kurla station had turned empty as many autos had vanished fearing getting caught. When the team comprising of seven to eight RTO officers and traffic police cops reached LTT station, there were only a few autos. As a result, the officers did not find many cases there, barring a couple of them — for over seating.
“The first thing that auto drivers at LTT do is take a chance and quote lumpsum fare. However, they do sometimes agree to ply on meter. But then, one cannot be sure if these meters are not tampered with. The condition at Kurla is also bad where people have to keep requesting the autorickshaw drivers, who pick and choose the fares, to ferry them,” said Subhash Gupta a resident of Kurla who had come to LTT.
The RTO officers asked the auto drivers, who had multiple fines against them, to park their vehicles on the side of the road. Sources said that they do not have space to park these vehicles after confiscating.
These RTO officers were also pasting stickers of their helpline numbers and were asking passengers seated inside to save this number.
People were asking about the genuineness of this number, and the RTO officers were reassuring that they have been taking action against the auto and taxi drivers based on the complaints received on their helpline numbers.
BOX: RTO Helpline numbers on which people can send messages and images over issues with autos and taxis
MH-01: 9076201010
MH-02: 9920240202
MH-03: 9152240303
MH-47: 8591944747
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