Following an online campaign and meeting with the Transport Commissioner of Tamil Nadu, the Transport Department has sent a report recommending revision of auto fares to the Transport Minister V Senthil Balaji, according to sources.
The action comes as a follow up to several voluntary organisations asking Tamil Nadu Transport Comissioner T Prabhakara Reddy to introduce rate cards for auto rickshaws in the city, and put in place a system to monitor the effectiveness of the rate cards. Representatives from Bhumi.org, the Lok Satta party and Transparent Chennai, an initiative by the Institute of Financial Management and Research (IFMR), came together on the issue of auto fares.
K K Prahalathan, who initiated the online petition calling on the Transport Commissioner to rationalise auto fares in Chennai said that more than the 8,000 people had signed the petition so far.“When we get more than 10,000 signatures on the petition, the representatives of the campaign will go and meet the Transport Minister,” he added.