The Commissionerate Police has proposed to introduce “women only” autorickshaws on the Capital’s roads. It is in talks with the autorickshaw associations to segregate some vehicles by giving them pink colour with priority to carry women passengers.
The criminal antecedents and character of the driver assigned for the women’s autorickshaws will be thoroughly verified by the police, Police Commissioner Rajendra Prasad Sharma said during a meeting with members of autorickshaw associations here on Wednesday.
“The driver will act as the guardian of the female passengers if they are travelling alone,” said Sharma. He also clarified that the autorickshaws can carry other passengers too, but they have to prioritise female passengers. Plans are also afoot to use autorickshaw drivers in tackling crime in the City. The autorickshaw operators have been provided two telephone numbers which they can use to provide first hand information about suspicious incidents.
The two numbers will be handled by a quick action team headed by the Police Commissioner himself. Sharma said police will use the network of the autorickshaw drivers, who function throughout the day, to bring down the crime rate since they can be the eyes of the police. There are about 17,000 autorickshaw drivers in the Capital.
Sharma also said the identity of the drivers who volunteer with information will be strictly protected by the police. A mutual understanding between the police force and the autorickshaw operators is necessary, he added.
Since autorickshaw drivers are accused of rash driving, the Police Commissioner asked them to strictly follow traffic rules.
President of Nikhil All Odisha Autorickshaw Mahasangha Subhash Singh drew the attention of the police to lack of welfare schemes for autorickshaw drivers, absence of parking space and no change in fare. “The last meeting on fare revision took place in 2008. If we do not have an up-to-date fare chart, the drivers may charge as per their whims,” said Singh.
Municipal Commissioner Sanjib Mishra said the Corporation was working towards finding adequate parking space for the autorickshaws through the upcoming parking policy.