Govt starts enforcing new fares, 129 autos impounded - chennai

Government officials on Monday hit the road to crack down on autorickshaw driverswho have been having a free run for the last 15 years. By 7pm, 59 police and transport authority teams had checked 2,454 autorickshaws in the city. Of these 129 were impounded for not having proper papers. The going — as expected — was not smooth.

"At Mandaveli, about 100 auto drivers came on to the road and protested against our officials," said Karuna Sagar, additional commissioner of police (traffic). 

The drivers surrounded the regional transport office inspectors, who had booked close to 20 cases. "We had a difficult time calming them down. They did not expect to be stopped and fined. They gave excuses like they did not have the time to fix meters and they didn't get the rate card," said Kavin Ray, a transport official at Mandaveli.

September 15 was the last day for auto drivers to collect the new rate cards, and the fares came into effect from Monday. Chennai Traffic Police and state transport authorities drew up a joint action plan to have 230 officials spread across the city to fine auto drivers who were not using meters and detain vehicles without papers. The detained vehicles were kept in the nearest MTC depot and the owners will get 15 days to explain why the government should not take action against them.

With 71,000 autorickshaws in the city and just 230 officials involved in the crackdown, police say they have an uphill task ahead. "But it is not impossible. This requires a change of attitude and we cannot expect it to happen overnight. We will not stop till we see results," said Sagar.

The change, though slow, has begun. A few drivers have embraced the new fares, and some commuters are insisting on them. Nuha Afra, a 23-year-old catering college student, stopped using autos without meters three days ago. "At signals, I noticed that all the autos had meters today," she said.

Auto driver Rajendran from T Nagar has found an innovative way to attract more passengers. He has stuck the new rate card on his windshield. "I am happy with the new fares and want to get more passengers. More people have been flagging me down since I stuck the rate card, which is visible from the road," he said.

The crackdown from 6am to 9pm every day will continue for the next two weeks, after which the transport department and police will review and revise their plan. 

"I have been on rounds since morning. I want to ensure that the current staff strength is enough to rein in the auto drivers," said transport commissioner T Prabhakara Rao.