Pune: Undercover drive to check autorickshaw trip refusals

PUNE: The Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO), which claims to have suspended the licences of around 40 auto rickshaw drivers in the past two months for refusing trips or declining to go on shorter trips, now plans to go undercover to crackdown on the menace.
Sources in the transport office said that the officials plan to launch a drive once they have their full staff strength. They intend to pose as daily commuters and approach auto rickshaw drivers for rides at different places.

“The regional transport officials in Mumbai carried out a campaign and more than 700 auto rickshaw drivers, who refused trips as the distance was short, had their licenses suspended. While we have been carrying out similar drives based on complaints, we are waiting for our staff strength to increase at the moment,” an official told TOI.
The official said that in the past two months, they had received around 40 complaints from commuters against auto rickshaw drivers. “We do receive complaints through different mediums like e-mails, phone calls etc and action is initiated against each one of them. So, one can say that in the past 2 months, the licenses of around 40 drivers were suspended for a period of 60 days. This means that for the past 60 days, they couldn’t drive their auto rickshaws. However, we know that the number of issues faced by the commuters is far more taking into consideration the total number of auto rickshaws in the city at present,” the official added. The number of auto rickshaws in Pune is around 16,044, while there are 6,202 auto rickshaws in Pimpri Chinchwad.
“Since the state government had suspended many regional transport officials officials last year, we were reeling under severe staff crunch. However, things have improved a bit but our problems remain. While six positions have been filled, there are still 14 positions which are vacant. Under these circumstances, it is very difficult for us to plan a sustained campaign against such violations,”the official said.
“However, we have successfully carried out a month-long campaign against private buses, which overcharge passengers during the holiday season. While penalties have been slapped on them, some buses have been confiscated. So, it is difficult to launch a planned campaign at present. However, once we have more people on board, a proper planning can be done on the similar lines of Mumbai. We then plan to carry out our drive against erring auto rickshaw drivers,” the official added.
The initial plan is to let the officers move around in different parts of the city posing as passengers and catch hold of auto rickshaw drivers.
“Trip refusal is a major problem. Most auto rickshaw drivers refuse to travel short distance. Many a times, passengers have complained about heated arguments which happen as result of the same. Though the traffic police also do their part from time to time, we too need to up our game to check this menace,” the official said. Anish Maheshwari, who takes an auto rickshaw every day to work, said, “They really need to act fast. It is a major problem and the same is just growing.”