Kerala - Kollam   

Pre-paid auto service: talks fail

KOLLAM: The second round of talks on Friday between autorickshaw unions and the police over reintroduction of the pre-paid autorickshaw services from the Kollam railway station ended without reaching an agreement. However, the police are hopeful that an agreement could be reached on Saturday.

The police insisted on the pre-paid fare system in the wake of serious complaints from the public that they were being fleeced by autorickshaw drivers in Kollam, in general, and from the railway station, in particular.

The system was in force at the station a couple of years ago.

Insistence on the part of the CITU union for a fare tariff that was much higher than the government prescribed rate was the cause for the talks failing to reach an agreement. Majority of the autorickshaw drivers were in the CITU union. Representatives of the union had walked out of the talks on Thursday.

But on Friday, they seemed to have mellowed down and taking a line that gave hope for reaching an agreement on Saturday. The police sources said they would not go back on the decision to reintroduce the pre-paid fare system from the railway station.

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