THANE: In the backdrop of pandemic when not more than two passengers are allowed in an auto rickshaw, as many as 4,876 drivers were seen violating the traffic rules in almost three weeks, confirmed the traffic authorities.
The traffic department started a special drive to take action against rickshaw drivers having more than two passengers in their vehicles on November 9.
It was seen that till November 27 action was taken against 4,876 drivers for taking three or more passengers in their auto rickshaws.
“We had strictly asked the rickshaw drivers to not carry more people, especially as we are facing a pandemic and maintaining social distancing is important. However, we came across 4,876 violators in almost three weeks. We noticed that many were running shared autos and ferrying four to five people,” said Balasaheb Patil, deputy commissioner police, traffic.
It was seen that the most number of violations were from Kalwa area with 605 offenders, following cases in Kalyan and 365 offences in Kapurbawadi.
The authorities stated that Kalwa being one of the links between Thane and Navi Mumbai many drivers take the passengers in share auto for their convenience to earn more. Also, this route always has congestion as a result the number of trips taken will be less but in share auto more money will be earned as more people will ply, hence the drivers do so.