KOCHI: Unbelievable as it may sound, it is a fact that more than 15,000 autorickshaws are plying in the city sans the mandatory city permit issued by the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD).
In view of this, the MVD, after a long gap of three decades, has decided to issue city permits to new autorickshaws. As per the decision taken by Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer (RTO) K Manoj Kumar, nearly 2,500 autorickshaws will get the permit to operate in the city. CNG, LPG and electric autorickshaws will get priority. Once this happens, the total number of autorickshaws plying in the city legally will become 6,500.
MVD will start inviting applications from eligible candidates by the end of this month and issue the new city permits by the end of March or in the first week of April after scrutinising the applications.
“The MVD issued city permits to 4,000 autorickshaws in the 1990s to cater to people’s needs. While a scrutiny on the number of autorickshaws operating in the city was carried out in 2013, no additional city permits were issued. The study also found that nearly 2,600 city permits of the 4,000 issued earlier were not in use. This too resulted in the influx of illegal autorickshaws,” said Kumar.
“As part of our effort to remove illegal autorickshaws from the city, MVD decided to enhance the number of city permits,” he said.
Conditions apply
MVD has come out with certain criteria that applicants need to fulfil to get city permits for their autorickshaws. Applicants who possess two ID proofs stating that they are a permanent resident of the city will get the highest priority as will applicants whose three-wheelers are powered by CNG, LPG or electricity.
Deployment at railway stations
It is learnt the MVD will deploy autorickshaws possessing the new city permits at the Ernakulam South and North railway stations to replace autorickshaws that do not possess the same.