Mumbai:
The commuters in the city can now look forward to a smooth travel by auto rickshaw. The city traffic police, following several complaints, have cracked down and penalised over 900 errant auto rickshaw drivers across Navi Mumbai recovered fine of Rs 40,000 from them.
"There were several complaints about denial and over charging by auto rickshaw drivers. They took undue advantage of innocent passengers. We started the drive to discipline such drivers," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vijay Patil said. The police officials have penalised several such auto drivers in the city over last three days.
After the launch of helpline by the city traffic police, several people lodged complaints against auto drivers. The complaints pertained to denial of short distance passengers, over charging and even half return during day time. In most of the areas like Airoli and Ghansoli, the auto rickshaws are not plied on meter. The drivers charge as per their whims. "We had received the complaints from many people. The preliminary investigations into the matter revealed that the auto drivers in these nodes violated several traffic rules, including plying on meter and charging as per the tariff card," Patil said.
According to information, the traffic police have penalised 927 auto rickshaw drivers across the city. The auto rickshaw drivers in Panvel topped the list of offenders followed by those in Rabale and Vashi respectively. "We have booked 260 auto rickshaw drivers in Panvel, while the number of such drivers in Rabale is 145 and in Vashi it is 132," Patil said. The drive will continue till there is a satisfactory improvement in the situation, he added.
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