RTO has been receiving thousands of applications for new auto permits.

As the number of autorickshaws has increased on city roads in the last three months — thanks to a move by the state government allowing the issuance of more auto permits — the Pune Regional Transport office (RTO) has been receiving fewer complaints of auto drivers refusing to ply to certain destinations or overcharging passengers.

In a circular issued in June this year, the state Home Ministry had discontinued restrictions, dating back to 1997, on the issuance of fresh auto permits. Following a directive from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the state government had, in 1997, directed all the RTOs in the state to take steps to freeze the number of auto permits in their respective cities.

After the state government lifted the freeze, the Pune RTO, on July 31, launched an online portal for receiving applications for auto permits and processing them. On its very first day, the portal received as many as 1,600 applications.

RTO officials said since July, 21,000 new permits have been issued to applicants in Pune district and 15,000 new auto-rickshaws have been registered in the city.

“As more auto-rickshaws are available on the roads, they have to compete to get passengers. In such a situation, a driver doesn’t want to turn away passengers and behaves better with them. In fact, we have noticed a marginal dip in the number of complaints about autorickshaw drivers refusing to ply and overcharging passengers,” said Deputy Regional Transport Officer Vinod Sagre.

Older autos scrapped

As the number of new autorickshaws increases, older autorickshaws, many of them plying illegally, are going off the roads.While 200-400 old autorickshaws are taken off the roads each year, the number has crossed 1,350 by the end of October this year.