RTO fines 51 autos plying without meters

Nagpur: The regional transport office (RTO), headed by RTO D Pawar, has launched drive against autorickshaws for plying without meters. Repeated complaints to district collector and Nagpur district Regional Transport Authority (RTA) chairman Sachin Kurve against autos charging exorbitant fares, prompted the move.
On day 1 of its drive, over 51 autos plying sans meters from railway station and outside Ganeshpeth main bus stand were caught, informed deputy RTO Ravindra Bhuyar.RTO officials admitted that not a single auto driver plies by meter or tariff card. “We have been receiving a number of complaints from commuters,” said Bhuyar adding that the issue was also raised during RTA meeting wherein Kurve directed both the RTO and traffic police initiate action against autos plying without meters.
On Monday, the RTO’s flying squad — comprising three Motor Vehicle Inspectors Anand Mohod, Nitin Uikey, assistant motor vehicle inspectors S Pallewar and V Sundarnani — conducted surprise checks outside Nagpur railway station and MSRTC bus stop, Ganeshpeth and found 40 and 11 autos plying without meters respectively. Bhuyar said the drive would continue on Tuesday on a bigger scale as traffic cops would also join the drive.
In the past too, the RTO had made it mandatory for autorickshaws to ply by meter, but failed to enforce the rule resulting in commuters paying exorbitant fares.
Welcoming the drive, commuters said that if the enforcement agencies decide they can easily implement the rule. At least traffic police and RTO should implement the meter rule strictly as Nagpur is the hometown of Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari and state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
According to RTI activist Avinash Prabhune, errant autorickshaw drivers go unchecked. There is a huge difference between the fares charged by them and the meter rates. Hence, people have started opting for cabs.
Meanwhile, Bhuyar said his office was going to encourage commuters to register complaints against errant auto drivers and have appealed to all commuters to lodge their grievances on toll free helpline number — 1800-233-3388 — between 10am and 5.45pm. “If requested, we will not reveal the passenger’s identity,” the deputy RTO assured.