Electronic meters to be mandatory

Electronic meters to be mandatory
DH News Service,Bangalore:
The government is contemplating making electronic meters compulsory for autorickshaws in Bangalore.

Transport Minister R Ashok said that the government would soon hold a meeting with representatives of autorickshaw drivers and owners, to take a decision in this regard.
Now, electronic meters are optional for autorickshaws. The government contributes a sum of Rs 1,000 towards the purchase of each meter.
As electronic meters have not been made compulsory, very few autorickshaw owners are making use of the benefit, he said.
The Karnataka Autodrivers’ Union has welcomed the government’s proposal to make electronic meters compulsory.
Union working president Srinivas Murthy said that the government should have taken this decision much earlier.
“As long as the government does not make it compulsory, autorickshaw owners will not purchase the meters. The government should declare a deadline for installing electronic meters. The government should seize autorickshaws that do not have digital meters installed by the deadline,” he said.
Srinivas Murthy said that electronic meters would give autodrivers lesser chances of tampering with them.
Mechanical meters could be tampered with to charge customers up to 40 per cent more than the actual price. However, in case of electronic meters it would be difficult.
“Some tamper with electronic meters by connecting an additional wire from the meter to an iron material. Customer can easily notice the additional wire and complain to the authorities concerned about tampering,” he said.

Delay


The government had delayed deciding on the issue of electronic meters, as continuing with mechanical meters was profitable for officers of the Legal Metrology, RTO, and Police Departments. “Most of the complaints regarding tampered meters were not taken seriously. This attitude helped autorickshaw owners continue with mechanical meters,” he said.