BENGALURU:Police verification of cab drivers operating in the city is set to become compulsory, following a recent notification by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The initiative launched by the city police for verification, even prior to the circular, however, is still far from complete.
According to the circular, apart from police verification of a driver, constant monitoring of cabs, issuing city permits for cabs, maintaining employee database of all cab aggregators and other responsibilities will fall under purview of the Transport Department.
Even though several other directions have been issued, it has been left to the discretion of the state government to implement the same.
Speaking to Express, Transport Commissioner, Ramegowda said that despite several cab aggregators pressing for police verification, it was not compulsory.
“The new circular however mandates the same. The new guidelines will help in monitoring all issues pertaining to cabs and other such vehicles,” Ramegowda said.
Police Verification
Police verification was made compulsory for all cab drivers in Bengaluru, with the city police setting a December 31, 2014, deadline. But, the process has been far from complete.
Verification was made compulsory after a woman was raped in a cab in New Delhi.
According to the Transport Department, 80,204 cabs have been registered in the city, as of March 31, 2015.
Sources in the Department said the number of cabs might have swelled by a few thousands during the past six months.
However, police department, as of September 30, has verified only 44,534 drivers.
For verification, 57,542 applications were received. Of the applications, 9,608 applications were received in December 2014, and 34,926 applications were received this year.
While cab aggregators had sent list of drivers in bulk to the department, there were also others who individually verified their backgrounds.
Officials involved in this said that about five per cent of the applications were rejected on various grounds.
Verification Process
Speaking about the process, an official said that the process would be complete in 21 days. Details of the cab drivers are fed into the Crime and Criminals Information System. “If any person has a criminal background, his application will be rejected,” the official said.