BNAGALORE: The Meter Jam campaign - an online initiative calling for boycott of autorickshaws in all metros of the country on Thursday - may not have been a big hit with the commuters in city, but it did ruffle some feathers.
Even as the autorickshaw unions in the city claimed the campaign to be a nonevent in the city, they have promised to come up with the complaint redressal number for commuters.
The number will be announced next Tuesday.
M Manjunath of Adarsha Auto and Taxidrivers Union said there was little impact of the Meter Jam campaign. "But the initiative seems to have hurried up some steps that the union has been working on," he said. "Next Tuesday, the union will hold a pressconference where they would release a phone number which the public can call for complaints."
Manjunath said meter repairers have been warned not to tamper meters as this gives autodrivers a bad name.
He said they would jam meters of autos that are found to be rigged.
Also, those who identify rigged meters will be rewarded.
"The unions have decided that any individual or autodriver who catches a person rigging meters will be given `10,000 by the union," he said. "Besides that, `1 lakh will be given by unions to autodrivers who return things left behind by passengers."
Sreenivas Murthy of an autorickshaw union said he saw no impact of the Meter Jam campaign. But he was agitated by an SMS doing the rounds on Monday evening sent by the BMTC asking people to take the buses while supporting the campaign."Who are they (BMTC)? It is not right on their part," he said. "Are they not increasing the price of tickets and insisting on ID cards for bus passes?"
On August 11, a message an SMS was sent by the BMTC which said: Meter Jam - a campaign calling for an auto and taxi boycott on 12 August. Looking for alternate mode of travel? Join BMTC's 'Take the Bus' campaign.
