[Resolved]  Rto Office Khanda Colony — Auto Menace in Khanda Colony

Address:

Mumbai Suburban, Maharashtra

Sir/Madam

On 18th June 2012, an auto rickshaw driver in Khanda Colony (MH06 S 620) refused to ply a sick woman to Neel Hospital at 11.45 p.m. late in the night from Khanda Colony Circle. This is despite the woman being so sick and pleading with the auto rickshaw driver who refused to listen to her pleas. The auto sped away without any passengers towards Khandeshwar station.
In a second instance on 18th June 2012, a person wanted to go to Sector 14 in Panvel from Khandeshwar station. For this a burly auto driver said he would charge Rs 80/- for which the man said that he too is an auto driver in Mumbai and would not pay so much amount. To this the burly auto driver brought the price down to Rs 60/-, but the Mumbai auto driver refused to pay and negotiated the price to Rs 50/-to which he agreed and sped away.
In a third instance, on 11th June 2012, two women with a small child had to go to Kalamboli Police station from Khanda Colony for which all the auto drivers refused to ply. After repeated pleas, the driver said that he would charge Rs 70/- for which the women refused to pay but the auto driver would not relent. Finally the women paid as per the whims and fancies of the auto driver.
The fare as per meter in the first three cases would be Rs 15/-, Rs 25/- and Rs 30 respectively.
The above examples brings to the fore the implementation of the METER system in auto rickshaws in Khanda Colony. Time and again over the last 9 years, these auto drivers have been opposing the introduction of bus service in Khanda Colony and have been terrorising the common public into submission and charging any amount at will. Due to this there are many private vehicles on the road as the common man cannot afford to pay these exorbitant amounts. Coming to the petrol price hike, after the hike, the fares were increased by Re 1 per seat of 5 seats immediately, but after the petrol price was reduced by Rs 2.00, the fares have not been reduced. Neither is there anyone who plies only 3 passengers as per rule. Every rule in the book is broken at will here and 5 passengers (6 sometimes) are ferried. People are forced to get down and offer their seats to women passengers and sit in the front seat with the driver. Why is this so? The seats are on first come first basis and once 3 seats are filled up, the auto driver has to proceed to the destination.
Since there is no other mode of transport available, the people have to bear the brunt and cough up the amounts demanded by the auto drivers. The RTO officials have to take strict action and it is an earnest appeal to the authorities to intervene and resolve the issues of the Khanda Colony residents and get the mini buses introduced immediately at a frequency of 1 bus every 8 minutes. Secondly, all auto drivers should ply only 3 passengers and as per METER.
What is required is Meter syste m for autos in Khand a Colony and request for plyin g 3 passe ngers only