Hyderabad:
You are likely to be taken for a ride, eight out of every 10 times that you choose to hire an autorickshaw in Hyderabad.
The police have discovered that 80 per cent of autos in the city have tampered meters that can send your pulse racing with the jumps in tariff.
Ironically, the police had introduced digital meters three years ago, claiming they were tamper-proof.
The drivers' weapon is a switch under their seat that is connected to the meter.
"In some cases, instead of paying 25 rupees, people ended up paying 300 rupees. He just has to keep pressing it. Every time he presses, the pulse doubles. Now if he presses once he will get extra 75 paise. If he presses it four times, he gets three rupees more,'' says traffic commissioner of the city, CV Anand.
The traffic police had insisted in 2007 that all autos in the city must switch from mechanical to digital meters, claiming that they are tamper-proof. The switch cost the auto drivers upto 4000 rupees each.
"The government at that time said tampering this meter is impossible and forced us to fit this meter. They also said if it is tampered with, then the display will say `tamper' and meter will stop,'' says Kiran, an auto driver.
The police have given the 68000 autos in the city time till October 11 to switch to honest ways.