Where are autos with tampered meters hiding?

Where are autos with tampered meters hiding?
AKANKSHA MEHROTRA
DC | BENGALURU


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While commuters seem to find a number of autos with tampered meters on the roads, a recent three day drive by the transport department surprisingly came across very few such autos running in the city.
Of the 2,117 autos inspected, only 10 had tampered with their meters.
Considering the innumerable complaints received against autos running with faulty meters, transport officials expected to find several of them on the roads, but were taken aback to come across so few of them.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, assistant controller of the legal metrology department, M.
Gopalappa said the special drive was conducted by the transport department in collaboration with his department in response to the sev eral complaints received from commuters about auto drivers trying to cheat them by manipulating their meters to show a higher fare than they should charge for the distance travelled. “But we did not come across many such autos during our inspection. Perhaps most of these autos were off the roads or the tampered meter had been calibrated back to normal,” he said, disclosing that most of the cases that were booked were against autos that had not renewed their fitness certificate.

But the transport department intends to deploy additional staff to identify

autos plying with faulty meters to make sure that none of them get away in future. "We will conduct surprise inspections until this menace is rooted out.
Cases are being booked at the Nagarbhavi RTO and we are seizing all the faulty meters," Mr. Gopalappa added.
The departments are also trying to find other ways of trapping auto drivers running with tampered meters They are approaching the auto unions to help them out and catch the drivers red handed. Charge sheets are being filed against the auto drivers who have tampered with their meters,