4 days to go: autos, taxis rush to get meters recalibrated

Recalibration of auto and taxi meters picked up sharply on Tuesday, with only four days to go for the deadline set by the state government.

Recalibration of auto and taxi meters picked up sharply on Tuesday, with only four days to go for the deadline set by the state government.

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Not many meters were recalibrated last week because of the Diwali holidays and the Mumbai Bandha which followed Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s death.

However, on Monday, the city came back to normalcy and, as a result, more autorickshaws and taxis got their meters recalibrated.

In Andheri Regional Transport Office (RTO), 1350 autorickshaws and 113 taxis got their meters recalibrated, while in eastern suburbs’ Wadala RTO 927 autos and 114taximeters were regulated.

“It’s because of Diwali and Thackrey’s death that recalibration got delayed. So far, we have not decided whether to extend the deadline or take action against autos and taxis that fail to recalibrate their meters before the deadline,” said VN More, transport commissioner.

The Central RTO at Tardeo recorded the lowest number of meter recalibrations on Tuesday, with 358 taxi meters recalibrated, and a total of 10,482 so far. “If the deadline is not extended, stringent action will be taken against taxis with non recalibrated meters. This time, we will not issue memo’s but will detain their permits and vehicles,” said senior official from Tardeo, RTO.

Regarding the lack of response from taxi drivers for meter recalibration, AL Quadros, general secretary of Mumbai Taximen’s Union said, “Many taxi drivers couldn’t repair their meters because of the bandh, but RTOs are expected to recalibrate more meters in a couple of days. Efforts are on to ensure all taxi meters are recalibrated before the deadline ends,”