RTA officials blamed for allowing increase in autos

RTA officials blamed for allowing increase in auto
Vijay Times

THE number auto plying on the City’s roads seem to be increasing at an alarming rate even as the issue of who is to be blamed for the increase is being debated.

While officials of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) claim that only 75,000 autorickshaws are plying in the City, the president of the Bangalore Autorickshaw Drivers’ Union Somashekar contests this claim.

According to him, there are over 1,25,000 autorickshaws plying on the City’s roads.

"Moreover, of the 75,000 autorickshaws that the RTA officials claim are on roads, more than 25,000 have permits for being operated in only rural areas such as Kanakapura, Magadi, Nelamangala, Hoskote, Devanahalli, Ramanagaram and Channapatana. However, these are plying on City roads," he said.

A Au ut to os s r re eg gi is st te er re ed d m mi it ts s: : "Add to this over 1,500 autorickshaws that have been registered but are without permits. These vehicles can also be found moving in the City," Somashekar said.

In order to reduce the traffic chaos in the City and to bring down pollution, the then state government, in 1997, acting upon an order from the Centre, had banned issuing new permits to autorickshaws through a notification. However, to encourage self-employment, the state government in 1999 permitted RTA officials to issue fresh permits with the precondition that permits would be given to only those youths who purchased autorickshaws through loans provided by SC/ST, Backward, Minority Development Boards, Karnataka State Finance Corporation and other nationalised banks under self-employment schemes.

This paved the way for the rise in the number of autorickshaws in the City.

In the year 2003, the RTA officials obtained permission from the Transport Ministry to issue permits to 5,000 more autorickshaws. The reason given by the officials was that the permits were for autos fitted with LPG kits.

The government had laid down the precondition that depending on the increase in the number of autos every year, 2,000 permits be issued in a year. But, violating this precondition, RTA officials issued all 5,000 permits within three months, Somashekar said.

"Even after the prescribed number of permits were issued, the RTA officials, who were supposed to stop any fresh registration of autorickshaws, continued to register more vehicles. Over 1,500 autorickshaws are plying in the City without valid permits," alleged Mohammed Abbas, chairman of the Karnataka State Auto Drivers’ Welfare Joint Action Committee.

Disputing the claim of the officials on the correct number of autorickshaws plying in the City, M Manjunath, president of Adarsha Auto and Taxi Drivers’ union, said that as per the release of the RTA, which was issued in Dec 1997, there were 54,224 autorickshaws in the City.

"In 1999, the then government decided to increase this to 70,000 and in 2003, it decided to add 5,000 more LPG kit fitted autos. After that, no fresh permits were issued. However, according to a release by RTA in 2004, there were 76,437 autos plying in the City," he claimed.

"When the ceiling was fixed at 75,000, why did the RTA give fresh permits to 1,437 more autos, he asked. It can be said that more than one lakh autos may be plying in the City today," he said.