Last week, Shruti Fadnis and senior members of her family were forced to take a private auto-rickshaw outside Pune railway station despite the presence of a prepaid auto booth in the premises. Reason being a handful of auto drivers who demanded exorbitant fares for ferrying them to Sinhagad Road and did not allow the auto drivers at the booth to ferry them either.
“As we stepped outside Pune railway station, some unscrupulous auto drivers began demanding ridiculously high fares to take us to Sinhagad Road. When we went to the prepaid auto booth, they warned the auto drivers there against giving us a ride. As there were elderly people with us, we were forced to take a private auto,” said Shruti.
Shruti is not the only one to face such an ordeal. There have been numerous complaints before her about a local group of auto drivers that does not allow auto drivers from the prepaid booth to take passengers. Not only do the auto drivers belonging to this group charge passengers several times more than the meter, some of them are even involved in criminal activities. The situation is so bad that fights break out almost every other day between these groups of auto drivers, prompting auto-rickshaw unions to flag concerns over the safety of both auto drivers and passengers.
Keshav Kshirsagar of the ‘Baghtoy Rikshawala’ auto union, said, “We have repeatedly complained about these auto drivers who gang up and harass passengers as well as other auto drivers who want to conduct business honestly as per the meter, but no action has been taken against them. Last week, some of these auto drivers threatened auto drivers of our union, poaching passengers from the prepaid auto booth.”
{{/usCountry}}Keshav Kshirsagar of the ‘Baghtoy Rikshawala’ auto union, said, “We have repeatedly complained about these auto drivers who gang up and harass passengers as well as other auto drivers who want to conduct business honestly as per the meter, but no action has been taken against them. Last week, some of these auto drivers threatened auto drivers of our union, poaching passengers from the prepaid auto booth.”
{{/usCountry}}Earlier on July 28 this year, the ‘Rikshamitra’ prepaid auto booth initiative was launched at Pune railway station in association with the Pune transport department, railway department and Kevolution Technology, and with the support of minister Chandrakant Dada Patil to tackle the rise in similar such passenger complaints. The existing prepaid auto booth is located at one side of the railway station near the reservation building. Auto drivers take passengers from in front of the foot-overbridge (FOB) and most of the time, fares are negotiated vocally without referring to the meter.
A Railway Protection Force (RPF) official said, “We are continuously monitoring the auto drivers and if they harass any of the passengers, we immediately intervene and resolve the passengers’ problems. But it is true that auto drivers who do not want to abide by the auto meter or the prepaid auto booth charge excessive fares from newcomers to the city and even threaten other auto drivers not to give passengers a ride.”
For passengers who face such harassment, they can lodge a complaint with the RPF official/s on duty at Pune railway station. They can also note down the registration number of the auto in question and lodge a complaint with the Pune RTO.