Autorickshaw drivers at Selvapuram, Big Bazaar Street, and Gandhi Park on Monday asked the district administration to take action against share autorickshaw drivers who violate permit conditions.
In a petition, the drivers said that 30 share autorickshaw drivers plied their vehicles as point-to-point autorickshaws from Selvapuram to Vysial Street, Gandhipark to Vysial Street, which was against permit conditions.
They furnished a list containing the registration numbers of such vehicles.
Though the Regional Transport Officer had stated very clearly in an RTI reply that vehicles with share autorickshaw permit should not be operated as point-to-point vehicles, the drivers continued to carry on their business, with impunity.
The share autorickshaw drivers were carrying 15 people though they should not carry more than five passengers at a time.
They collected Rs. 5 a passenger when the rule said it ought to be only Rs. 2.
The autorickshaw drivers had said that accidents involving share autorickshaw drivers had increased in the recent past and two people had lost their lives.
Unless, the district administration initiated action against the errant drivers, the regular autorickshaw drivers would be forced out of business.
The administration should ensure that there was no undue concentration of share autorickshaw in these areas, the petition said.
‘Shift dumpyard’
Residents of localities in and around the Coimbatore Corporation’s dump yard in Vellalore on Monday petitioned the district administration demanding that the civic body shift the yard out of the area.
The residents who went to meet the District Collector Archana Patanaik wearing masks, said that leading a normal life had become difficult as groundwater was polluted. And so was air. The water obtained from bore wells in the area was brown and carried a bad taste.
Water tests had revealed that the water was unfit for use. The residents who had used the water for washing and cleaning had developed skin problems. The air too was polluted. And there were flies that invaded their homes.
J. Daniel, a resident, said that the residents’ had learnt through RTI replies from the district administration authorities that they had not visited the dump yard and that they had no control over the Coimbatore Corporation.
It was unfortunate that the administration had chosen not to respond to the residents’ plea. It should at least initiate action to provide a healthy living environment and also take it to the notice of the higher officials in the Secretariat.
Title deeds
Residents of a Dalit colony at Karatumedu in Keeranatham, near Annur, on Monday petitioned the district administration seeking title deeds for the plots the State Government gave them in 1996. In the petition, they said that 212 people got title deeds after they petitioned the Distict Collector in 1996.
Based on the allocation, the residents built thatched roof houses and huts. Four months after they started living on the allotted sites, unidentified persons set fire to the houses. The police have registered cases. Recently, a court had asked the Government to give title deeds to residents.
The government should take steps to give title deeds to the legal heir(s) of those who had died too.
