People must the card to fill complaints against autorickshaw
The police taking away an office-bearer of an autorickshaw union affiliated when he attempted self-immolation in the city on Thursday.Cards will be made available to the public to make complaints of fleecing against autorickshaw drivers, District Collector Neeraj Mittal said on Thursday. The cards would be distributed by the office of the Deputy Transport Commissioner.Passengers could make a mention of the registration number of the vehicle, the stand from which it was hired and the amount demanded from them. Deputy Transport Commissioner T. Gunasekaran said the cards were being distributed during the checks conducted by the officials. Passengers could post the cards to the Regional Transport Office on Dr. Balasundaram Road.The cards would also be available at the offices of the Regional Transport Officers (South and North). The cards could be obtained from the personal assistants of the officers. Victims of fleecing could fill in the details and hand these back for action. The Collector said that the public should be more responsive to the administration’s efforts at enforcing the Rs.14 meter fare. There was no point in just making a noise from some corner. People had to be bold in turning this into a movement for their benefit.
“Even consumer welfare organisations are only complaining of fleecing. They have not even organised a public programme, such as a rally, to insist that only Rs.14 should be charged,” he said.The flex boards with the fares put up at the railway station and bus stand seemed to have succeeded in making the people put up some resistance to fleecing, he said.After seeing the rates fixed by the Government, passengers asked the drivers why they demanded excess fare.“Only when a large number of people resist, can the enforcement be total and successful,” Mr. Mittal said.
The Collector said that the administration would provide full support to autorickshaws that charged meter fare. He was referring to an instance in 1997 wherein some drivers offered to charge only meter fare in 1997, but did not get support from the authorities.“The administration also wants to protect the interests of the drivers, but well within the rules,” he said.The opposition to the fare intensified in the city. An office-bearer of an autorickshaw union affiliated to the Hindu Makkal Katchi attempted self-immolation.He was, however, removed by the police as soon as he poured doused himself in kerosene.
Office-bearers of the Joint Committee of Coimbatore District Autorickshaw Workers’ Unions were in Chennai on Thursday to meet Transport Minister K.N. Nehru and Transport Commissioner Chandra Prakash Singh to press for a higher meter fare.A decision on the committee’s plan for an indefinite strike from September 3 would be known on Friday.
