Pilgrims may be cheated in ‘absence’ of fare-by-meter

NASHIK: With the Nashik Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the police failing to make fare-by-meter mandatory in the city, people coming to Nashik throughout the year for the upcoming Kumbh Mela may have to shell out extra bucks from their pockets.
Nashik, known as a pilgrimage city, also has many temples and tourist spots in and around it. Besides the state transport buses, the devotees will also use autorickshaws to travel in the city.However, given the inefficiency of the departments concerned in implementing fare by meter, the chances of the visitors getting cheated at the hands of autorickshaw drivers are more.
The year-long mega event begins on July 14. Besides huge rush of pilgrims during the three shahi snans in August and September, the flow of devotees from across the country would continue till August 2016 when the Kumbh Mela ends.
Vaishali Jagtap, a resident of the Cidco area, said, “Nashik needs to have both the options of share autorickshaw as well as fare-by-meter. The attempt of making fare by meter mandatory for autorickshaws has been made earlier as well. However, neither the passengers nor the autorickshaw drivers are keen on it. People from outside visiting the city have to bear the brunt of this as autorickshaw drivers charge exorbitant fare from them.”
Meanwhile, Pankaj Dahane, deputy commissioner of police (Kumbh Mela and traffic), said the police would be communicating with the RTO on working out the possibility of putting rate cards at all the autorickshaw stands in the city.
Regional transport officer Jeevan Bansod said, “As a rule, fare-by-meter is compulsory and also in force. If the passengers feel that that they are charged exorbitantly by autorickshaw drivers, they can always lodge a complaint with the RTO on its toll free number 18002331516.”
Officials said the toll free number launched by the Nashik RTO for lodging autorickshaw-related complaints has received poor response with hardly a call or two made once a month. The toll free number is based on an interactive voice response system (IVRS), which apparently dissuades people from lodging complaints.
However, RTO officials said a maximum number of visitors come to the city through trains. A prepaid autorickshaw kiosk is in place at the railway station, which was currently operating 24x7, they said.
Its presence will give passengers the scope to choose between the prepaid system or general autorickshaws. RTO officials said every autorickshaw driver taking passengers from the prepaid booth is registered with the booth operator, which ensures the security of the passenger. On reaching the destination, the passenger has to sign the receipt given at the prepaid booth on payment of cash and hand it over to the autorickshaw driver, who in turn submits the signed receipt at the booth and collects the tariff.
Earlier, RTO officials said the operator has been instructed to ensure that the booth is open throughout the day and also during night hours. The passengers alighting from trains at the railway station should not find the prepaid booth closed, they said.