February 8, 2014
NEW DELHI: Complaints against autorickshaw drivers will now only lead to challans. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a slew of measures for auto drivers on Friday, including curtailing the powers of the Delhi traffic police. Police can suspend licences or impound vehicles only if the permit, drivers' licence or fitness certificate is missing. The usual fine or challan is just Rs 100.
February 8, 2014
NEW DELHI: Complaints against autorickshaw drivers will now only lead to challans. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a slew of measures for auto drivers on Friday, including curtailing the powers of the Delhi traffic police. Police can suspend licences or impound vehicles only if the permit, drivers' licence or fitness certificate is missing. The usual fine or challan is just Rs 100.
Delhi CM – Arvind Kejriwal
Complaints of misbehavior, refusal or overcharging will no longer lead to suspension of permits by the Delhi police, even if challans have been issued against the offending vehicle earlier.
More than a year after the transport department started the drive for mandatory installation of GPS-based meters; Kejriwal delinked the GPS device from fare meters. He announced that just installing a GPS device from any empanelled agency would be adequate and added that government would soon float a tender inviting more vendors for the device.
The CM claimed that GPS-based meters, which would have given commuters information about the shortest route to any destination, were 'officially' for Rs 13,500 but were selling in the market for Rs 18,000.
These were among a slew of measures Kejriwal announced at a 'mahasabha' organized in Burari on Friday. Replacement of old autos, 500 more stands, better facilities at the Burari fitness centre and an annual fare hike dependent on inflation were some of the other sops he held out.
But it was the promise to curtail the powers of the traffic police that struck a chord with autorickshaw drivers. At present, police prosecute autorickshaws on permit violations. This includes not going by meter, misbehaviour, overcharging, overloading and not wearing a uniform. A challan is issued for the first violation and multiple challans can lead to suspension of the permit or impounding of the vehicle. With Kejriwal's new policy, autorickshaw drivers will be safe from permit suspension or vehicle impoundment, unless the driver doesn't not have a valid permit, drivers license or fitness certificate.
According to traffic officials, typically, a TSR driver has his vehicle impounded only after he has violated his permit condition thrice in a row and challaned Rs 100 for the violation every time. Traffic officials said that last year they had prosecuted 2,59,527 auto rickshaws, out of which 18,010 vehicles were impounded. "We prosecute drivers after keeping a track of their offences and as per the rules and will now act as per government orders," said additional commissioner of police, traffic Anil Shukla.
The Usha Mehra committee had said in its report that there was no reason as to why a TSR driver, who refuses to carry a passenger, cannot be prosecuted under section 66 (1)/192 A of the MV Act which is a non-compoundable offence entailing suspension and even cancellation of permit.
However, autorickshaws with a board saying 'no service' now cannot be prosecuted for refusals, said Kejriwal.
Other measures announced by Kejriwal included making 5,500 more NCR autorickshaw permits available. At present, autorickshaws cannot ply between Delhi and NCR. With these permits, travelling between the states will become easier. Kejriwal announced that more such permits would be made available soon.
Also, the complaint number – 011-42400400 – primarily for commuters till now, will be made available to autorickshaw drivers as well. "We will place better people at the complaint number, who will also get the version of the autorickshaw driver along with the commuter's," Kejriwal said. The helpline will attempt to resolve the issue first before a complaint will be generated, he added.
Courtesy: TNN
