HYDERABAD: The Telangana Transport Department officials on Wednesday seized 11 taxis and booked cases against 37 more for violating various rules in a major crackdown launched in the backdrop of the Delhi rape case.
The officials took the cabbies by surprise on the Jubilee Hills check-post-Madhapur route, Mehdipatnam, Gachibowli, Rajendranagar and Uppal. The taxis were seized for violations ranging from not carrying the driving licence and fitness certificate to not displaying the ‘Taxi’ notice.
The officials said no taxi of Uber, the app-based cab service, was seized and pointed out that it’s difficult to identify the company’s cab since it doesn’t display its name on the vehicles. Asked if all the taxis checked by the officials carried the Taxi board, M Praveen rao, deputy transport commissioner of Ranga Reddy district, said though such a rule exists, it was not under focus earlier. “We will continue to check for it from tomorrow,” he said.
Surprisingly, some Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspectors (AMVs) reportedly did not take calls from their higher officials, who wanted to involve them in the drive against erring cab operators. “We are serving memos on them asking for an explanation,” a senior official told Express. T Raghunath, joint transport commissioner of Hyderabad, said they were going to bring in a new a rule making it mandatory for all taxis to display the word ‘Taxi’ prominently on the vehicles and also to make it visible at night with some lighting.