Transport dept selects 22 e-meters to test for faults

To ensure that e-meter manufacturers maintain the standards necessary to make e-meters tamper-proof, the transport department has sent samples of all e-meters available in the market for testing.

To ensure that e-meter manufacturers maintain the standards necessary to make e-meters tamper-proof, the transport department has sent samples of all e-meters available in the market for testing.

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The transport department has made e-meters mandatory for all autorickshaws from April 1. Since then, around 13,019 autorickshaws were fitted with e-meters in the city. Included in this were around 30,000 autorickshaws fitted with e-meters.

The transport department took this step after finding some faulty or rigged e-meters fitted in autorickshaws in the city in the last one-and-a-half months. According to RTO sources, the transport commissioner's office has sent 22 e-meters for testing, with two e-meters of each manufacturer in the sample.

These samples have been sent to the Pune-based Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), which had earlier carried out various tests and certified e-meter samples.

“The main purpose of sending samples is to check whether manufacturers were maintaining the same standards in their e-meters, for which they were certified,” told a senior official of transport department. “We are expecting MIT’s report by the end of next week.”

Samples sent for testing to MIT were collected from various e-meter dealers, appointed by manufacturers in Mumbai. “We have collected these samples at random from both the eastern and western suburbs,” said a senior RTO official.

During its drive against rigged e-meters, the RTO had found two autorickshaws with rigged e-meters. RTO officials also found a faulty e-meter, that was not rigged, of a manufacturer m/s super electronic meter mfg co.

This e-meter displays the fare for previous passengers, resulting in overcharging the next passenger hiring the autorickshaw.