BHUBANESWAR : A day after Transport department initiated process to cancel the permits of about 385 autorickshaws mobilised on the roads during unlawful protests by ride-hailing app drivers, the officials have found that many plied without the document.
“During verification of the autorickshaws mobilised in the protest, we found out that many were plying without permits. We are trying to ascertain the total number of autorickshaws which have no permit and fitness,” said a senior Transport department officer.
Transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur said challans will be issued and registration certificates (RCs) suspended of the autorickshaws involved in the unlawful protests and found plying without valid fitness and permit.
If any of these vehicles was plying much beyond the lapsed renewal windows of the above documents, steps will be initiated to cancel the RC, he added. So far, the Commissionerate Police has seized at least 354 autorickshaws following the violent protest on Wednesday.
Autorickshaws, as commercial transport vehicles, can opt to pay their motor vehicle road tax in periodic installments such as quarterly or yearly terms rather than paying at one go.
Meanwhile, Kharvel Nagar police have registered seven cases and arrested 113 protesters. About 60 others were released on bond of good conduct. Of the total cases, two were registered on the complaints of general public, four on petitions of Ama Bus staff and one more on the complaint of the police personnel.
On the day, police also removed the banner of the auto-rickshaw association on the government land near Station Square where the drivers assembled regularly.
Police also mobilised a JCB and dug a trench to ensure the autorickshaw drivers are unable to gather and take part in unlawful protests again.
As online cab, auto and bike services are yet to return to normalcy, the city police deployed PCR vans at Biju Patnaik International Airport to facilitate the travel of the passengers, especially senior citizens and patients, to their destinations.
“I arrived here from New Delhi on the day and could not book any cab or autorickshaw online. The PCR van personnel facilitated my travel,” said a senior citizen.
Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said no coercive action will be initiated against the ride-hailing app drivers who were not involved in the unlawful protests and asked them to return to work.