KOCHI: The yellow and black army that rule the roost on the roads of Kochi has become a pain in the back for the police and the public alike. The khaki-clad autorickshaw drivers are ruthless when it comes to charging the unsuspecting public exorbitant rates. They are also notorious for ignoring the traffic rules. These men scoff at the idea of charging the passengers as per the reading shown on the metre.
Hence, it doesn’t come as a surprise when one comes to know that in Kochi the most number of law breakers are the auto drivers.
With the onset of Sabarimala season, these errant drivers gear up to rake in a profit by taking the unsuspecting passengers for a ride.
Recently, a family from Kottayam who arrived at the North Railway station got a taste of the high-handed attitude of the auto drivers. The four member family caught an auto from outside the railway station as there was a huge rush at the pre-paid auto counter. Their destination was Lulu Mall. After a long and backbone breaking ride when they reached the mall, the family had to pay a huge price for not availing the pre-paid auto service. They had to shell out nearly two hundred bucks and also got an earful of the driver’s choicest epithets for arguing with him over the fare. This is not an isolated incident.
“As I can’t get onto a bus,I always have to depend on autos. Most of the times, the drivers try to make the most of my situation and charge higher rates. Unlike other cities, the behaviour of the auto drivers here is pathetic. But not all are bad. There are some among these rotten set who are good at heart and levy only the charge as per the meter,” said Peethambaran Pillai,a retired government servant.
The most sad part of the whole affair is that the police seem to have lost all their enthusiasm when it comes to taking action against these errant auto drivers. Recently, they had launched a drive against the auto drivers to catch those flaunting rules. But after a section of auto drivers protested alleging police harassment, the drive was called off.
According to police, the number of autos plying without meters and also drunk driving has reduced very much after the drive.
“We register around 20 to 30 cases on an average daily. Around six to seven months ago, it was a different picture altogether. The police are doing their best to rein in the drivers. Drunk driving cases have also gone down in the last couple of months,” an official said.
R Nishanthini, DCP, admitted that the drive against errant auto drivers has come to a halt, but it will be resumed after the decision on the new tariff plans come into to place.
“Meanwhile, the routine drive of keeping a tab on the drunk drivers is on and we are duly registering cases”, she said.
Meanwhile, the proposal to introduce identification cards for all autodrivers, to help the public to register complaints against rogue drivers has hit a dead end following practical difficulties and difference of opinion among the drivers.
The much touted initiative was launched by the city police two years ago and they had even distributed the ID cards to over 2,000 drivers in the city. However, at present the number of drivers in the city is nearing 15,000 and a major chunk of drivers have no id cards.
As per the proposal, the cards were to be emblazoned with unique Quick Response code that will provide the cops access to the complete details of the driver at a single touch. The drivers were directed to affix the cards behind the driver’s seat so that the passenger is able to see the full details. Similarly,an SMS based system for the public to alert the police if the driver resorts to anything foul has also gone down under.
“When I assumed the charge as a DCP here, I tried to revive these proposals. But they never took off due to objections raised by
the drivers who are attached to powerful politically-affiliated unions. However, we will rein in the drivers by setting up more number of pre-paid counters. Nearly two to three such counters are in the offing,” said Nishanthini.
According to M B Syamanthabhadran, district general secretary of All Kerala Autodrivers Association, the identification card system was nothing but a ‘fraudulent proposal’.
“Not even a single card has been handed over to the drivers so far and it ended up as yet another ‘paper’ project. As far as fare meters are concerned, the police have no authority to decide or fix a charge. Normally, a driver can charge an extra amount of `10 per kilometer after attaining the minimum charge for one and half kilometre. However, the association is against the drivers who ply without meters.We also urge the government to immediately intervene and take a final decision on the new tariff and to prevent the harassment of the drivers by the motor vehicle department and the police,” he said.