Drive against auto drivers reap rich dividends

Hyderabad, Oct 2 (INN): Traffic police booked as many as 18,866 cases against errant auto-rickshaw drivers during the week-long special drive against them and collected Rs 12,23,900 in fines, providing some relief to harassed citizens. The drive, which was started from September 27 and continued till Friday, was aimed at checking those drivers who violate rules and regulations.

The traffic police booked 909 auto drivers for demanding extra from passengers, 588 for refusing to ply passengers to said destinations, 839 for carrying more than the permitted number of passengers, 187 cases of ferrying more than six schoolchildren, auto piloting 2971, rash driving 92, parking in bus bays 670, wrong parking 1781, signal jumping 479, stop line crossing 206, driving without uniform 2309, driving without driving license 479, without documents 77, pending cases detected through PDA 6,753. The traffic police detained as many as 319 autos and booked 207 cases using decoys.

According to the Traffic police authorities, it will insist that the auto drivers follow Rule 269 - Exhibition of particulars on Auto rickshaws of AP MV Rules, 1989 where a board/plate inside the auto rickshaw should be installed and fixed on the portion between the drivers seat and the passengers seat in a manner visible to the passengers from the seat. This board should be 20 cm in length and 20 cm in width, in Black background and white letters and each letter shall not be less than 3 mm in length and 3 mm in breadth.

It should contain the details like name of the Auto Owner, Auto Registration Number in Telugu or in Urdu and any complaint contact traffic help line 9010203626 or 040-27852482 and 27852471. The traffic police also confirmed that during these drives that several auto drivers and owners were found resorting to Tampering of Digital Meters and several methods are being adopted to tamper these meters, so that they can collect extra fare from the hapless passengers.

The traffic police warned that henceforth, if a meter is found to be tampered, the Legal Metrology Authorities will be informed to take action as per their procedures. The Police Department will proceed to take criminal action against the owner of the auto rickshaw and also the mechanical shed owner who made these changes to tamper with the meters, under 420 IPC.

As per Rule 100 sub section ii (2) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, the plastic sheet on the rear side of the Auto-rickshaw should be transparent. It is noticed that many autos have converted this into advertisement space. The Auto-rickshaw owners should place transparent plastic sheets in place of the advertisement as these are for security reasons and also for rear view functionality. The traffic police also gave a weeks time to the Auto owners and drivers to make the above changes in the Autos.

In view of the requests made by Auto Union leaders, this one week time is also being given to regularise their driving licenses and other Auto papers, stitch Khaki shirts and proper uniform, remove extra structures near the drivers seat which helps auto piloting etc. The traffic police is proposing another drive from October 11, targeting the auto-rickshaw drivers.