Separate rules for taxis, autos irk activists

The transport department hopes to install electronic meters in all the autos across the city before April 2013. But it will take another 10 years for all the taxis in the city to get electronic meters. Kailash Korde reports.

The transport department hopes to install electronic meters in all the autos across the city before April 2013. But it will take another 10 years for all the taxis in the city to get electronic meters.

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In case of old autorickshaws, transport authorities will provide them with an annual fitness certificate only when an e-meter has been fixed. This, however, is not the case for taxis.

“In case of taxis, an e-meter is compulsory to get the vehicle replaced,” said an RTO official, on condition of anonymity.

Therefore, the process of installing e-meters in taxis will continue till 2022, said transport department sources.

“The last time a Premier Padmini was converted to be used as a taxi was in 1997. The maximum age of these taxis is 25 years. Therefore, the process of installing e-meters will continue for a long time,” said an official from the transport department.

Consumer activists, however, are unhappy with the separate rules for autorickshaws and taxis. “We are going to take up this issue with the state transport,” said Shirish Deshpande, consumer activist, Grahak Panchyat.

AV Shenoy, a consumer activist and former member of the Taxi Trade Committee, said the transport department should be proper infrastructure in place to repair e-meters before installing them.